[2023]DLSC16112 • May 31, 2023 • Supreme Court •
EDMUND ADDO vs. THE REPUBLIC
In 2015, the appellant met a 14-year-old female student and engaged in a series of sexual acts including oral and anal sex, some of which were recorded without the victim's consent. The appellant also sent pornographic videos to the victim and threatened to publish nude photographs when the victim refused further contact. The victim's mother reported the matter to the police after the videos were widely viewed online. The appellant was charged with defilement and child pornography under sections of the Criminal Offences Act and the Electronic Transactions Act, respectively.
read moreJUDGMENT ASIEDU JSC:- INTRODUCTION: My Lords, we are confronted with one main issue in this appeal and, that is, whether an accused person standing trial for a criminal offence ought automatically to be discharged and the charge struck out once the offence creating section of the Act under which he was charged is repealed by an Act of Parliament. FACTS: The facts of the case are that in the year 2015 or thereabout, the appellant, who shall henceforth be referred to as the accused person, met the victim, then a 14-year-old student in secondary school, at a party. Sometime after, the accused invited the victim to meet him. The accused took the young girl to watch a movie at the West Hills Mall, Accra on Valentine’s Day, 14th February 2015. The accused proposed love to the victim who also accepted. In the early part of March 2015, the accused person took the young girl to a Guest House at East Legon where the accused demanded to have sex with her but the young girl refused with .....