[2024]DLCA17862 • November 28, 2024 • Court of Appeal
GIDEON BOAKYE vs. THE REPUBLIC
The appellant, a 28-year-old pastor and biological father of the deceased, took custody of his 9-year-old daughter in July 2020. The deceased allegedly confessed to being possessed by witchcraft. During a deliverance session on 14 December 2020, the appellant struck the deceased's head with a wooden chair, causing a fatal injury. He then concealed the body in a jute bag and abandoned it near a cemetery. The appellant initially denied the offence but later admitted accidental killing during prayer. The deceased's cause of death was blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.
read moreJUDGMENT MENSAH-HOMIAH, JA. INTRODUCTION The appellant herein, Gideon Boakye, has filed this appeal challenging the sentence of life imprisonment imposed on him by the trial High Court, Kumasi, upon a conviction of Manslaughter under Section 50 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29). BACKGROUND OF THE CASE The appellant is a pastor who was twenty-eight (28) years old at the time of the offence in issue. He is the biological father of the deceased, Queenstar Akyea Boakye, aged (9) nine. The deceased lived with her biological mother until the appellant took custody of her in July 2020. According to the appellant, the deceased confessed to him that she had been possessed by witchcraft. So, in the early hours of 14th December 2020, the appellant engaged the deceased in one of his usual deliverance services and in the process hit the deceased’s head with a wooden chair. The deceased fell and sustained a cut on her head which caused her to bleed profusely. She eventually .....