AKPELEAFASI vs. THE STATE [1964]DLSC1864

Date	1964-02-29
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1964]DLSC1864

ADUMUA-BOSSMAN JSC

MILLS-ODOI JSC

BLAY J.S.C.

H. DARKO FOR THE APPELLANT.

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

[1964]DLSC1864
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >AKPELEAFASI<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;vs. <o:p></o:p>THE STATE <o:p></o:p>[SUPREME COURT]<o:p></o:p>[1964] GLR 65<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:
29 FEBRUARY 1964.<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">

H. DARKO FOR THE APPELLANT.<o:p></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">

ADUMUA-BOSSMAN, MILLS-ODOI AND BLAY
JJ.S.C.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF MILLS-ODOI J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>Mills-Odoi
J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was charged with
murdering his wife and was convicted of this crime at the criminal session of
the High Court held at Ho at a trial before Siriboe J. and a jury on 3 March
1963.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The case
for the prosecution, so far as it is relevant to this appeal, is that the
deceased who was a dealer in locally manufactured gin, lived with her parents
at Blekusu, a village in the Volta Region. The appellant also lived in the same
village, but in a different house not far from the deceased’s. On 1 January
1963, at about 7 p.m. the appellant went to the house of his wife whom he saw
in her kitchen carrying one of her twin babies who was about six months old. At
the entrance of the kitchen sat the deceased’s cousin, the second prosecution
witness, who was enjoying himself over a glass of gin which the deceased had
given him. In a manner characteristic of the custom of villagers, both the
deceased and the second prosecution witness heartily welcomed the appellant and
offered him a chair at the entrance of the kitchen. Shortly afterwards, the
second prosecution witness emptied his glass and took leave of the deceased and
the appellant.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>As soon
as the second prosecution witness walked to a distance about eight yards from
the entrance of the deceased’s house, he heard the voice of the appellant
saying that he would show the deceased something. “Immediately after this,”
said the second prosecution witness in his evidence at the trial,<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">“I heard
the fall of a person followed by an alarm saying ‘Moses has killed me! Moses
has killed me!’ It came from the deceased’s house and the noise was that of the
deceased, which I could plainly recognise because I am conversant with it. I
ran back to the house and saw the accused and the deceased in the bathroom. The
accused was sitting on the deceased and was stabbing her with a knife. The moon
was on at the time and there was also a light in the house by the fence of the
bathroom. On seeing that, I rushed and held the accused in order to remove him
away from the deceased, but the accused was too heavy for me. I therefore
shouted or raised an alarm that Moses has killed Lisarshie. I raised this alarm
several times.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
deceased’s aunt, Nyorgborshie Binortsor the third prosecution witness, who
lived in the same compound as the deceased, heard the alarm and rushed to the
scene. She saw the deceased, the appellant, the second prosecution witness and
the baby in the deceased’s bathroom. The appellant was sitting on the deceased
and was stabbing her with a knife. The second prosecution witness had grabbed
the appellant and was trying to lift him from the deceased who lay on the
ground motionless; but he found appellant too heavy for him. Nyorgborshie took
the baby from the ground and raised an alarm calling for people to come to the
aid of the second prosecution witness and the deceased. At that juncture the
appellant got up and started running towards the kitchen and the second
prosecution witness then ran after him, got hold of him in the kitchen and
started to struggle with him over the knife.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Following
the alarm raised by Nyorgborshie, Henry Binortsor the fifth prosecution witness
arrived at the scene and with his assistance the second prosecution witness
overpowered the appellant and succeeded in taking the knife away from him.
Other persons who also rushed to the deceased’s house included Bosu Ayidoho the
sixth prosecution witness, the deceased’s half-brother. He saw the deceased
lying in a pool of blood in the bathroom, and the appellant was well in the
grip of the second prosecution witness and the third prosecution witness. As a
result of a report he received from the second prosecution witness he quickly
ran back to his house and returned shortly afterwards with a rope which he, the
second prosecution witness and the fifth prosecution witness, used in tying up
the appellant who was later taken to Keta and handed over to the police. The
deceased was rushed to Keta hospital the same evening in a state of
unconsciousness; she died about an hour later.<o:p></</main>