MANU vs. THE STATE [1965]DLSC1829

Date	1965-03-12
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1965]DLSC1829

MILLS-ODOI JSC

OLLENNU JSC

BRUCE-LYLE J.S.C.

AKIWUMI FOR THE APPELLANT.

GYEKE-DAKO SENIOR STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE RESPONDENT.

[1965]DLSC1829
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >MANU <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>THE STATE <o:p></o:p>[SUPREME COURT]<o:p></o:p>[1965] GLR 149<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:
12 MARCH 1965.<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">

AKIWUMI 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">

MILLS-ODOI, OLLENNU AND BRUCE-LYLE
JJ.S.C.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF BRUCE-LYLE J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>Bruce-Lyle,
J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was convicted of
murder at the Criminal Session of the High Court held at Kumasi on 10 August
1964. The case for the prosecution is that the appellant lived with one James
Djomoh, the sixth prosecution witness, and Akua Nkyeraa, Djomoh’s wife the
fifth prosecution witness, in the same house in a small village called
Asakyerowa near Brofoyedru in Ashanti. In the morning of Sunday, 26 January
1964, the appellant entered the room of the sixth prosecution witness while the
said witness was away at his farm, and took the said witness’s gun which was
loaded. When he was questioned by the fifth prosecution witness as to what he
was going to do with the gun the appellant said he was going to hunt with it
and left the house with it. About the same time the deceased, a farm labourer
of one Kwabena Darbo, the first prosecution witness, was threshing corn with
the first prosecution witness’s wife and daughter by name Adjoa Kwakyewaa, the
third prosecution witness, a child aged seven years outside the house of the
first prosecution witness in a nearby cottage; the first prosecution witness
was not in the house; he had travelled to Brofoyedru. While threshing the corn
the third prosecution witness went seven yards away to urinate and then heard
the report of a gun from behind the house; the third prosecution witness and
her mother then started running and noticed that the appellant was also running
after them. The appellant who was armed with gun and a cutlass, overtook and
stopped them and requested the third prosecution witness’s mother to go with
him to the bush for an immoral purpose; but the woman refused and started to
beg when the appellant hit her on the head with the cutlass. At that moment the
third prosecution witness became frightened and ran away to a nearby cottage
and reported the matter to one Kwabena Biribi who took her to the Wiesohene and
thence to the Agogo Police Station where the third prosecution witness made a
report. The Wiesohene ordered a search party to go to the bush for the arrest
of the appellant and in the course of the search the deceased was found lying
dead in the first prosecution witness’s yard; about 120 yards from the first
prosecution witness’s cottage the third prosecution witness’s mother was also
found dead from cutlass wounds on the body.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
appellant returned to his cottage with the gun at about 10 a.m. and replaced
same in the room of the sixth prosecution witness and left the village for his
home town Asokore. When the sixth prosecution witness returned to the cottage
from his farm, and heard what his wife, the fifth prosecution witness, told
him, he examined his gun and found that it had been reloaded. The appellant
returned to the cottage the next day and a fortnight later he was arrested. At
an identification parade held at the Agogo Police Station the third prosecution
witness without difficulty identified the appellant as the one who chased after
her and her mother and as the one she saw strike her mother with the cutlass.<o:p></o:p>The
medical report which was tendered at the trial as exhibit A contains 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">“There is
a gunshot wound of the chest with a wound of entry in the back 1 1/2 lateral to
the spine on the (R) at the level of the 3rd rib. The charge has passed through
the (R) upper lobe, the great vessels and the sterum and several pellets have
left exit wounds in the skin of the chest. The wounding is found in the
substance of the (R) lung. Seven pellets are recovered. Summary: Although death
is due to asphyxia it would have been inevitable with this chest wound. Cause
of Death: (1) Asphyxia due to (2) Aspiration due to (3) Unconsciousness due to
(4) Gunshot wound of chest.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
appellant when charged and cautioned volunteered a statement in which he said
inter alia:<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 took
the cap gun that day during the absence of James Djomoh. During the hunting I
came to one Kwabena Darbo’s cottage in the same area. I saw a man threshing
corn and was sitting with the back towards me. I also saw a woman and a girl of
about six years old at the cottage. I did not know what happened to me and I
fired my cap gun at the back of the man sitting threshing the corn. I found
that he fell down. The woman and the girl came to where I was, crying and
calling for help. At the time I had turned my back to them. When I turned to
see them I found that they were running. I chased after them and when I came up
to them, the woman sat down and said that I should have sexual connection with
her. I did not agree and slashed her with my cutlass several times. In fact I
cannot tell where on her</main>