R. vs. MOSHIE [1959]DLCA2050

Date	1959-10-05
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1959]DLCA2050

VAN LARE J.A. AS C.J.

GRANVILLE SHARP J.A.

OLLENNU J.

[1959]DLCA2050
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" ><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#548DD4;mso-themecolor:text2;mso-themetint:
153">R. <o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#548DD4;mso-themecolor:text2;mso-themetint:
153">vs. <o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:Times;color:#548DD4;mso-themecolor:text2;mso-themetint:
153">MOSHIE<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[COURT OF APPEAL]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[1959] GLR 343<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DATE:
5TH OCTOBER, 1959.<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

VAN LARE J.A. AS C.J., GRANVILLE SHARP
J.A. AND OLLENNU J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF OLLENNU J.<o:p></o:p>(After
stating the facts his lordship proceeded:-)<o:p></o:p>In our
view, the evidence given at the trial of the appellant raised the question
whether or not, when he committed the act which he admits he committed, he was
under an insane delusion as defined in section 52, sub-section 2 of the
Criminal Code, so as, in the opinion of the Court, to render him an unfit
subject for punishment.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The story
consistently told by the appellant does not fit into the known facts; for
example, apart from his landlord, and some of the people who arrived on the
scene in consequence of the alarm, the people whom the appellant attacked were
only women and children, while according to the appellant the people were all
men, grown-ups; he never saw a child anywhere near. The story is such that the
only impression it gives is that at the moment when he did the act he was
living in a world entirely his own and quite different from that in which all
other people in the village, who witnessed the scene, were living.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>In the
notes of the learned Judge’s summing-up to the assessors appears the following
passage:<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">“Assessors
told if they did not believe that accused had acted in self-defence, but that
he was deprived of his power of self-control, and that he intended to cause
harm to landlord and other persons in group, and not to deceased boy Kwadwo
Anthony, entitled to find accused not guilty of murder but guilty of
manslaughter.”<o:p></o:p>This
direction would have been in order, if the story told by the appellant could be
set against a background of reality. But the evidence shows clearly that the
“facts” in the story of the appellant were facts which existed only in his own
mind, false beliefs held by him which could not be shaken by the facts as they
were.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Another
passage in the notes of the summing-up is the following:-<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">“Assessors
told no need for prosecution to prove motive - No reasons adduced for actions
of accused but if evidence of prosecution believed particularly eye-witness
P.W.4 - and that accused was not held in an attempt to take him to lorry for
the purpose described by accused, opinion should be stated as guilty of
Murder.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>And in
his judgment the learned Judge said: -<o:p></o:p>