BABA MUSAH vs. THE REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT Appellant was tried for and convicted for the offence of incest under Section 105(1) of Act 29/60. He was sentenced to twenty (20) years imprisonment. The brief facts were that, he on four different occasions had sex with his biological daughter Gifty Mensah and impregnated her. His appeal was by way of a mitigation of sentence on grounds that the sentence was hash in the circumstances of the case, that he was remorseful, that he is a first offender and that he be given to the chance to go and work to support the victim who is unemployed and vulnerable. Before me he appeared to maintain the stance he took at the trial, that he did not in fact commit the offence. At the trial the victim was said to be two months pregnant then. To test the truthfulness of that claim it was ordered that the child the product of the pregnancy be produced for the purpose of an order for a DNA test to be conducted to determine whether the appellant could have fathered the child. After several a...