KABRE vs. THE STATE [1966]DLCA1704

Date	1966-12-02
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1966]DLCA1704

OLLENNU JA

AZU CRABBE JA

LASSEY J.A.

S. H. ANNANCY FOR THE APPELLANT.

S. M. BOISON PRINCIPAL STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE RESPONDENT.

[1966]DLCA1704
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >KABRE<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;vs. <o:p></o:p>THE STATE <o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL]<o:p></o:p>[1966] GLR 770<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:
2 DECEMBER 1966.<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">

S. H. ANNANCY FOR THE APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p>

S. M. BOISON, PRINCIPAL STATE ATTORNEY, FOR THE
RESPONDENT.<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">

OLLENNU, AZU CRABBE AND LASSEY JJ.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF AZU CRABBE J.A.<o:p></o:p>Azu
Crabbe J.A. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was convicted by
a jury before Sowah J. sitting at Ho on 17 November 1965, for the murder of one
Kwasi Kabre at Lekorkor in the Volta Region on 12 October 1964.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
deceased, a boy of between nine and ten years old, lived with his mother and
the appellant, together with two other sisters, in the said Lekorkor cottage at
a village called Baika. The deceased was the step-son of the appellant, but the
appellant regarded him as his real son. Almost all those who lived in the same
village with the appellant thought, in view of the appellant’s affection and
care for the deceased, that the deceased was the real son of the appellant. The
deceased invariably accompanied the appellant to the farm to help. No one knew
of any quarrel between the appellant and his wife, and the evidence was that
the appellant and his family lived happily together.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>On the
morning of that fateful day when the killing took place, the appellant had
invited nearly twenty persons to help him in splitting his cocoa. Among the
helpers was one Kariwa Kabre (the first prosecution witness) and his wife
Akosua Kabre, who remained with the appellant after all the others had left at
about 3 p.m. for their own villages. No one heard of any quarrel during the
splitting of the cocoa. At a certain moment the second prosecution witness who
was in a kitchen said that when she came out she saw the deceased lying down
with a wound at the back of his neck. The appellant was standing near the deceased
holding a cutlass which was dripping with blood. The second prosecution witness
said that she raised an alarm, and this attracted the attention of the first
prosecution witness who was still working on the cocoa. The first prosecution
witness said that he tried to get near the appellant, but the appellant said to
him that if he (the first prosecution witness) advanced further towards him
(the appellant) he would cut him (the first prosecution witness) with the
cutlass. The first prosecution witness said that he ran away, and that when he
later returned to the scene of the killing with other people the appellant had
disappeared. This is how the first prosecution witness summed up the
appellant’s reaction to the killing, “When I saw the accused standing above the
child he stood very quiet. He stood gazing at the child.” There was no motive
for this killing, and no one could suggest any. Indeed, it is impossible on the
evidence for the prosecution to infer any motive. In the course of his evidence
the appellant said, “Kwasi Kabre was a small child; how can I quarrel with him,
there was no quarrel between us. My child has never insulted me. I was
responsible for his food and everything.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>There is
no doubt in this case that the death of the deceased was caused by unlawful
harm inflicted by the appellant, and the sole question in this appeal is the
state of the appellant’s mind at the time of the commission of the crime. The
law presumes everyone of the age of discretion to be sane and responsible for
his acts and the question whether a person was insane in the legal sense at the
time the act was committed and therefore not accountable for his acts is one of
fact to be determined by the jury, and is dependent upon his previous and
contemporaneous acts: Afrifa v. R.1 In R. v. Nasamu2 it was held that the word
“contemporaneous” must not be construed as “simultaneous,” but as covering acts
committed immediately after the act charged.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>In this
appeal several grounds of appeal have been filed, but we think that the only
ground worthy of serious consideration is the one which alleges that the trial
judge failed to consider adequately the defence of insanity. In his summing-up
the learned judge read the whole of the defence evidence to the jury, and drew
their attention to what he thought were the important points which they ought
to consider. He told them:<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">“He says
that he remembers inviting persons that day to help him split his cocoa, he
gathered the cocoa into two heaps, he says he could not tell whether he
finished gathering the cocoa. From that point he</main>