[2023]DLHC16912 • July 6, 2023 • High Court
PROSPER HONU KUDZO vs. THE REPUBLIC
The appellant was convicted in two separate cases of defilement involving two child victims aged seven and eight years respectively. In the first case, the appellant, a 40-year-old farmer, was found guilty of defiling a seven-year-old niece of his wife, with evidence including eyewitness testimony and medical reports. In the second case, the appellant defiled an eight-year-old orphaned child who was staying with him and his wife; he pleaded guilty before the prosecution closed its case. Both offenses occurred in 2011, and the appellant was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in each case.
read moreJUDGMENT This a criminal appeal the appellant filed on 22 May 2023 upon leave of the Court on 10 May 2023. Per the notice of appeal, the appellant appears to be dissatisfied with the sentences in two separate cases of defilement that within a couple of months the Circuit Court, Hohoe imposed on him. That is, 29 August 2011 and 29 November 2011. His prayer in this appeal, strictly speaking, is not against the convictions but rather the sentences of 20 years, and 240 months the trial imposed in each case. His prayer in this appeal is for mitigation of the sentences on grounds that they are “manifestly harsh and excessive” praying the court “to consider the facts of the cases and reduce the sentence to the minimum … to run concurrent”. The facts on record are that the appellant was convicted and sentenced on the two separate cases. He had filed this appeal to cover the two convictions for defilement at separate dates by the Circuit Court Hohoe. The appellant pleaded not guil...