GYABAAH vs. THE REPUBLIC [1985]DLCA920

Date	1985-01-13
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1985]DLCA920

MENSA BOISON JA

EDWARD WIREDU JA

OSEI-HWERE J.A.

J. O. AMUI FOR THE APPELLANT.

SAM BADDOO CHIEF STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE REPUBLIC.

[1985]DLCA920
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" ><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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GYABAAH <o:p></o:p>

{COURT OF APPEAL, ACCRA} <o:p></o:p>

[1984-86] 2 GLR 461<o:p></o:p>

DATE:
13 JANUARY 1985<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>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">

J. O. AMUI FOR THE APPELLANT. <o:p></o:p>

SAM BADDOO, CHIEF STATE ATTORNEY, FOR THE
REPUBLIC.<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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MENSA BOISON, EDWARD WIREDU AND OSEI-HWERE JJ.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF OSEI-HWERE J.A.<o:p></o:p>Osei-Hwere
J.A. delivered the judgment of the court. There lived in the village of
Amaasu-Pampaso near Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Brong-Ahafo Region a man called
Opanin Kwasi Aidoo alias Simon Aidoo. By repute he was a devout Roman Catholic
whose kindness was said to know no bounds. On the night of 26 June 1979, he
left home to seek spiritual solace in the Roman Catholic Church. By 11.20 pm he
had not come home and his family got alarmed. Later that night his dead body
was discovered lying some 30 yards from the sanctuary of his worship. The
following morning the body was conveyed to the Sunyani Central Hospital where
Dr Apraku, now deceased, carried out an autopsy. The body was later buried at a
village in Ashanti called Sakra Wono, from which the deceased hailed.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>It
appears that if the Amaasu-Pampaso Police who had the first advantage of coming
face to face with death of Opanin Kwasi Aidoo had set in motion any serious
investigative process it soon was lulled. For it was one month (almost) after
his death that a detective sergeant of the Sunyani Police who had taken over
the investigation swooped down on Amaasu-Pampaso and carried with him six
suspects including Yaw Gyabaah, the appellant before us, and Adongo Frafra, a
watchman at the Amaasu Roman Catholic Continuation School who was put forward
by the prosecution as one of their star witnesses. An investigation cautioned
statement was collected from the appellant as well as the other suspects on 26
July 1979 and on 14 August 1979 Adongo Frafra, the fourth prosecution witness,
pointed out the appellant at an identification parade. The appellant was
formally charged with murder on 21 August 1979. It is a sad reflection of the
Laodiceanism of the agencies charged with the prosecution of the appellant that
it took exactly one year two months thereafter to put the appellant before the
district court for committal. Or was that an index of the want of confidence in
their own indictment?<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Be that
as it may, the appellant was ultimately arraigned before the High Court, Sunyani
and tried for the murder of Opanin Kwasi Aidoo. Three of the witnesses called
by the prosecution, i.e. the second, third and fourth prosecution witnesses
gave incriminating evidence against the appellant which the jury apparently
believed and thus clinched the charge against him. Being aggrieved by his
conviction and sentence he filed his notice of appeal in which he urged the
general ground that the verdict of the jury was unreasonable and cannot be
supported by the evidence. His counsel argued two additional grounds. The first
was that the evidence of the second and third prosecution witnesses was in
direct conflict with the evidence of the first prosecution witness and that the
learned judge misdirected himself by not directing the jury on these important
conflicts in the evidence. The second was that the prosecution failed to prove
an essential ingredient of the charge with that degree of certainty expected in
a murder case.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>At the
trial the prosecution called five witnesses in all. The first prosecution
witness is the daughter of the deceased whose alarm led to the discovery of her
father’s dead body. She did not herself go to the scene where they found his
body. However, between 5.30 a.m. and 6.00 a.m. the following day she went to
the house of her father’s son-in-law where the body had been deposited.
According to her she observed only a scratch on the father’s leg with blood
oozing from it. The second prosecution witness is Kwadwo Broni who lived at
Kyeremaasu but worked as a security officer attached to the A.D.A. Timber Co.
He claimed that he was a herbalist to boot. He is a close friend to Kwame Badu,
the third prosecution witness, who at the material time lived at
Amaasu-Pampaso, only four miles from Kyeremaasu. The third prosecution witness
also claimed that he was attracted to the scene where the dead body of Opanin
Kwasi Aidoo was found. He said that the police examined the body and suspected
that the deceased had been bitten by a snake. The police asked them to take the
body home and prepare it for burial. He said further that while they were
bathing the body they realised that the arms of the deceased were broken and
the jaws fractured and blood was also coming from the nose. They reported to
the police and the inspector came to examine the body further. The inspector
directed that the body should be conveyed to the Sunyani Central Hospital.
According to </main>