STEPHEN DAPAAH @ ARAFAT vs. THE REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT BAAH, JA A. BACKGROUND 1. On Wednesday, the 25th of May 2022, the Appellant was brought before the Circuit Court in Nkawie, Ashanti Region. He stood against two powerful institutions of the state: (a) the Police, wielding investigative and prosecutorial powers, and the Court, entrusted with adjudicatory powers to determine his guilt and potentially condemn him to a sentence that could see him imprisoned for years. D.S.P. Sylvanus Dalmeida, prosecuting on behalf of the State, sat resolutely in his prosecutorial seat. His judicial eminence, His Honour Nana Brew, presiding over the proceedings, sat regally. When the time came, the court clerk, as is customary, read the Appellant's charge, laid out in the charge sheet filed by the State. The charge stated that during May 2022, at Paraku Estate, Kumasi, the Appellant appropriated cash totaling GH¢850,000.00, belonging to Dr. Kwaku Oteng, the complainant in the case. The broken spirit of the Appellant yielded to the State, and he s....