THE STATE vs. ALI KASSENA [1962]DLSC1725

Date	1962-03-09
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1962]DLSC1725

VAN LARE JSC

ADUMUA-BOSSMAN JSC

CRABBE J.S.C.

ADUMUA-BOSSMAN FOR THE APPELLANT.

K. DUA SAKYI D.P.P. WITH HIM SEKYI FOR THE RESPONDENT (THE STATE).

[1962]DLSC1725
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" ><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;
mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;
color:#548DD4">THE STATE <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:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;
color:#548DD4">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:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;
color:#548DD4">ALI KASSENA <o:p></o:p>[SUPREME COURT]<o:p></o:p>[1962] 1 GLR 144<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid black 1.5pt;
padding:31.0pt 31.0pt 1.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">

DATE:<span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;
mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;
color:#00B0F0"> 9TH MARCH, 1962.<o:p></o:p>

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

ADUMUA-BOSSMAN
FOR THE APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p>

K.
DUA SAKYI D.P.P. WITH HIM SEKYI FOR THE RESPONDENT (THE STATE).<o:p></o:p>

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

VAN LARE, ADUMUA-BOSSMAN AND
CRABBE, JJ.S.C.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF
CRABBE J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>Crabbe J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant
was convicted before Apaloo, J. sitting with a jury at the Criminal Session of
the High Court at Kumasi on the 28th August, 1961, for the murder of one
Puayaga Grunshie. Against this conviction he has appealed to this court.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>In order to appreciate the way in which the various questions in
this appeal arise it is necessary to state in broad outline the case as
presented by the prosecution. The evidence for the prosecution was that in the
afternoon of the 12th February, 1961, the appellant and the deceased met at a
dance in the house of the chief of the Grunshie community in Kumasi. When the
dance came to an end at about 9 p.m. a quarrel arose between the appellant and the
deceased in the chief’s house as a result of the exception which the appellant
took to the amorous advances which the deceased was making towards his
(appellant’s) brother’s wife. Shortly after this the deceased left the chief’s
house with three of the prosecution witnesses, and after a brief stop at the
house of one of them for a meal these three witnesses accompanied the deceased
to his house. It was alleged by the witnesses that the appellant also came to
the deceased’s house and tried to engage the deceased in a fight, but they were
separated.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The evidence as to whether the appellant or the deceased left the
house first is rather confused, but both of them went out of the house one
after the other. It is certain that one woman in the house (the fifth witness
for the prosecution) led the appellant out of the house, and he walked along
the only direct public road to his house at New Tafo.<o:p></o:p>The deceased, it was alleged by his friends, the prosecution
witnesses, left the house alone and without telling anyone where he was going,
although his own mother P.W.4 testified that he and his companions left the
house together. This incident in the house of the deceased took place at about
9.30 p.m. Later in the same evening at about 10.30 p.m. the dead body of the
deceased was found lying on the road along which the appellant had passed to
his house earlier in the evening and about 150 to 200 yards from his
(deceased’s) house. According to the evidence one has to pass by a number of
houses from the deceased’s house to go to the scene where the dead body lay.
The scene of the crime was more than half a mile but less than a mile distant
from the house of the appellant. A report was consequently made to the police
at about 11.20 p.m.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The appellant was naturally the only person suspected, and after
further preliminary enquiries the inspector in charge of the Asawasi Police
Station took the Grunshie chief and other policemen to the house of the
appellant. At the house the accused was found asleep in his room with his wife
and child. He was aroused from his sleep and he promptly denied a suggestion
that he had killed the deceased. The police conducted a search of his room and
in a corner of the room was found a bush shirt and a pair of trousers which the
appellant had worn during the evening. The appellant was arrested and taken to
the police station and when the bush shirt and pair of shorts were examined by
the inspector in his presence, blood stains were found on each of them. The
appellant was asked by the inspector to account for these blood stains but he
said he did not know how they came to be on his clothes. Under
cross-examination, however, and this should be particularly noted, the
inspector changed his story and said that the appellant gave two explanations.
The first was that he bought the clothes with the blood stains on them, and the
second that the stains were due to mosquito bites. In the palm of the appellant
the inspector also found minute blood spots but he asked no questions about
this. The appellant had a plaster on his forehead but the inspector could not
remember what the appellant told him when he asked about this plaster. On the
next day, i.e. the 13th February, 1961, the appellant was cautioned and he
volunteered a statement which was tendered in evidence as part of the case for
the prosecution, and which, in view of the problem that arose at the end of the
prosecution’s case, is set out in full, as follows:<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"><</main>