AWUNI FRAFRA vs. THE REPUBLIC [1976]DLCA1242

Date	1976-07-28
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1976]DLCA1242

ARCHER JA

KINGSLEY-NYINAH JA

HAYFRON-BENJAMIN J. A.

DJABATEY FOR THE APPELLANT.

MRS. J. BAMFORD-ADDO PRINCIPAL STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE REPUBLIC.

[1976]DLCA1242
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >AWUNI FRAFRA<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;vs. <o:p></o:p>THE REPUBLIC <o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>[1977] 1 GLR 190<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:
28 JULY 1976<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">

DJABATEY 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">

ARCHER, KINGSLEY-NYINAH AND<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF HAYFRON-BENJAMIN J.A.<o:p></o:p>Hayfron-Benjamin
J.A. delivered the judgment of the court. On 7 December 1973, the appellant was
convicted at the High Court, Accra, by the unanimous verdict of a seven-man
jury of the crime of murder and was accordingly sentenced to death by the
court. On 23 June 1975 this court unanimously set aside the verdict of guilty
of murder and the sentence of death and substituted therefor a conviction of
the crime of manslaughter and a sentence of ten years’ imprisonment with hard
labour. We now proceed to give our reasons.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Aborfu
village, the scene of the crime, is a village on the outskirts of Accra. It is
near the settlement of Ablempe, where the first and second prosecution
witnesses live. The nearest police station is on the compound of Achimota
School. It would seem that these villages had been experiencing periodic and
regular raids from thieves, and at least the first prosecution witness had had
her things stolen from her house by thieves on one occasion.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>When
therefore she noticed two men standing behind a fence at night on 24 January
1972, she raised an alarm. According to her, she had gone out at about 7.30
p.m. to buy some food, when she saw the two men behind a fence near an overhead
bridge. She shouted “Who are you?” and one of the men ran into the bush, while
the other (the accused) came towards her. She shouted for help, and her
brother, the second prosecution witness, came out. On seeing the approach of
the brother, the accused began running towards Aborfu village. A hue and cry
was raised and other inhabitants of the area joined in the chase. When the
chase reached Aborfu village about 40 inhabitants of that village who had
obviously heard the shouting of “Thief, thief” had already congregated to assist
in the arrest of the accused. The first prosecution witness, a woman with a
limp, could not keep pace with the rest during the chase, and got to the crowd
when the accused had already been apprehended. She accompanied the arresting
party who took the accused to the Achimota Police Station and there made a
statement to the police.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
brother of the first prosecution witness, who as I have said was called as the
second witness for the prosecution, is an able bodied young man attending the
Accra Secondary Technical Institute. He was able to keep pace with the chase
and was at the scene at Aborfu village when the accused was arrested. He
testified as follows:<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">“When we
got to Aborfu there were a lot of people gathered at the outskirts of the
village. They surrounded the accused. The accused was holding something which
was shining. I saw the thing. It was a knife, a table knife (identification 1).
One man called Atakora went to the accused and asked him in Twi ‘Danfo aden,’
meaning what is the matter my friend? The accused then stabbed him on the chest
with the knife and the accused started to run away after he had stabbed
Atakora. We chased him and he threw the knife away after some distance. We then
managed to arrest him. The accused was actually caught by one Mr. Yakubu. The
accused was then taken to the Achimota Police Station. My sister and I arrived
at the police station before the accused was brought there by two civilians and
two soldiers.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>This
placid account of what happened was substantially repeated by Yakubu Grumah the
man who arrested the accused. He was called as the third prosecution witness.
He said:<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 went
to the scene and met the accused surround</main>