YIRENKYI vs. THE STATE [1963]DLSC10979

Date	1963-02-08
Suit No.	[1963] 1 cGLR 66
Citation No.	[1963]DLSC10979

VAN LARE JSC

MILLS-ODOI JSC

AKUFO-ADDO JSC

K. NARAYAN FOR THE APPELLANT.

D. F. ANNAN SENIOR STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE RESPONDENT (THE STATE).

[1963]DLSC10979
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >YIRENKYI<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>THE STATE<o:p></o:p>[SUPREME COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

[1963] 1 cGLR 66&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;&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;DATE: 8TH FEBRUARY, 1963<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>K. NARAYAN
FOR THE APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

D. F. ANNAN, SENIOR
STATE ATTORNEY, FOR THE RESPONDENT (THE STATE).<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM: <o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

VAN LARE JSC, MILLS-ODOI JSC, AKUFO-ADDO JSC<o:p></o:p>

</div>&nbsp;JUDGMENT OF AKUFO-ADDO J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>Akufo-Addo J.S.C. delivered
the judgment of the court. The appellant was convicted before Acolatse J. in the High Court, Accra, on the 13th
March, 1962, of the murder of a woman—named Afua Ayeley. The case for
the prosecution was that the
appellant was married, apparently under
customary law, to the said Afua Ayeley, that differences arose between the
appellant and Ayeley, differences
attended by the usual quarrels between man and wife, and which ultimately
culminated in the marriage being
dissolved in accordance with customary law in the presence of the Chief of
Nsawam, where the couple lived. The
dissolution of the marriage took place on Saturday, the 10th February, 1962. On the morning of Monday, the 12th
February, 1962, at about 7 o’clock, the deceased Ayeley and her sister Korkor
were on their way from Djankrom, a district of Nsawam, to the Nsawam market in the centre of Nsawam, when they met the
appellant. According to the prosecution, as per the evidence of Korkor,
the appellant, on meeting the two sisters
on the road, told the deceased that he had removed all his
belongings from their matrimonial home but that he had left the deceased’s
pillow in that house and requested
the deceased to go and collect it. The appellant then added that he was going
away from Nsawam and on his return
back to Nsawam he (the appellant) would seek “a settlement between them.” The deceased replied that there was
nothing between them that called for a settlement. Thereupon the appellant pulled out a cutlass from under
his cloth and with it struck the deceased at the back of her neck. The deceased fell down unconscious,
whereupon the appellant threw down the cutlass and ran away dropping his sandals in the process.
Korkor raised an alarm and a man, Kwabena Budu, who said he saw the attack on the deceased by the
appellant, gave chase but was unable to catch up with the appellant who disappeared. The deceased was later
removed to the hospital where she regained consciousness for a brief period, and died a few hours later. During
the short period of her consciousness, and about ten minutes before she died, she made a statement to
the police which was essentially the same version of the incident as given by her
sister Korkor, the important
point being her certainty as to the
identity of her assailant.<o:p></o:p>At
the trial, the appellant denied the charge and set up a defence of alibi,
notice whereof he duly gave in accordance
with the requirements of section 131 of the Criminal Procedure Code. In that
notice the appellant stated that he
was not at Nsawam on the 12th February, 1962, that he travelled to Osiem in Akyem Abuakwa on the 11th February, 1962,
to see his sister and left Osiem on the 15th February, 1962, for Tweapease, and he gave the names of
two persons whom he was going to call to prove his alibi. These persons were his sister and one Quansah
described by him as his landlord at Nsawam. In his unsworn statement which he made in his defence at
the trial he stated further that it was at Tweapease, whither he had gone on the 15th February, 1962, from
Osiem, where he had been since the 11th February, 1962, that he was told by his brother and one Ofori, a