NYAME vs. THE REPUBLIC [1971]DLCA2137

Date	1971-05-31
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1971]DLCA2137

AZU CRABBE JSC

ANIN J.S.C.

ARCHER J.A.

QUANSAH FOR THE APPELLANT.

F. P. SARKODEE SENIOR STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE RESPONDENT.

[1971]DLCA2137
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >NYAME <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>THE REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>&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; [COURT OF APPEAL]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>&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;[1971] 2 GLR 140<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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DATE:
31 MAY 1971.<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;
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QUANSAH
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;
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AZU CRABBE AND ANIN JJ.S.C. AND ARCHER
J.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF AZU CRABBE J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>Azu
Crabbe J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was convicted
at the Sekondi Criminal Session on 27 January 1970 of the murder of one Aba Yaa
and was sentenced by Edusei J. to death. On 5 March 1971 we dismissed the
appellant’s appeal against his conviction and intimated that we would give
reasons at a later date. We now proceed to give the reasons.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>There is
no doubt in this case that the deceased died of gun-shot wounds, and the only
issue at the trial was whether it was the appellant who shot the deceased.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The facts
fall within a very narrow compass. The appellant and the deceased were married
for about twenty years, but the marriage had been dissolved about
two-and-a-half months before the death of the deceased, and the appellant’s dowry
of N¢10.30 had been returned to him by the mother of the deceased.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>On 16
April 1968 at about 6 a.m. the deceased went to the house of one Ekua Amissah
(second prosecution witness) to ask for water to prepare kenkey. The appellant
and Ekua Amissah lived in the same house. Meanwhile, the mother of the deceased
who was paying a visit to her daughter had, so it appears, followed the
deceased to the house of Ekua Amissah. As Ekua Amissah went into the kitchen
and was fetching the water for the deceased, she heard the report of a gun. She
immediately came out of the kitchen and saw the appellant holding a gun, and
the deceased lying on the ground and bleeding profusely on the right side of
her head. Ekua Amissah raised an alarm, and before anyone came to the scene,
the appellant placed the gun against a wall and disappeared. The mother of the
deceased also saw the appellant, as he placed the gun against the wall and fled
through a lane. Neither Ekua Amissah, nor the mother of the deceased, actually
saw the appellant shoot at the deceased. But shortly after the incident in the
house of Ekua Amissah, the appellant went to the Kojokrom Police Station and
there reported to two police officers on duty that he had shot and killed his
wife, and was surrendering himself. This confession was made in the presence of
the tenth witness for the prosecution, one Kofi Badu, who had gone to the
police station on his own business. According to these police officers, an
entry was made in the station diary of the report made to them by the
appellant. One of the police officers took the appellant to the scene of crime,
where the appellant pointed to a gun placed against a wall and said to the
police officer: “This was the gun I used in killing my wife.” The police
officer picked up the gun, and, on his return to the police station, he made an
entry about the gun in the station diary. Though the station diary was brought
to court, it was only identified but not tendered in evidence, and the
investigation statement which the appellant made to the police was rejected by
the court.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Giving
evidence in his defence, the appellant denied that he killed his wife whom he
loved dearly, and with whom he had fifteen children during 23 years of
marriage. He admitted, however, that he went to the police station at Kojokrom
that morning, as alleged by the prosecution witnesses, but he denied that he
made a confession of having kille</main>