REPUBLIC vs. ATTORNEY-GENERAL; EX PARTE QUAYE MENSAH AND ANOTHER [1987]DLCA1176

Date	1987-07-18
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1987]DLCA1176

ANNAN JA

CHARLES CRABBE J.A

EDWARD WIREDU J.

W.A.N. ADUMUA-BOSSMAN (NUTSUGAH WITH HIM) FOR THE APPELLANTS.

CREPPY PRINCIPAL STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE RESPONDENTS.

[1987]DLCA1176
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >REPUBLIC <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>ATTORNEY-GENERAL; EX PARTE QUAYE MENSAH AND ANOTHER<o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[1979] GLR 429<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:
18 JULY 1979<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">

W.A.N. ADUMUA-BOSSMAN (NUTSUGAH WITH HIM) FOR THE
APPELLANTS.<o:p></o:p>

CREPPY, PRINCIPAL STATE ATTORNEY, FOR THE
RESPONDENTS.<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">

ANNAN AND CHARLES CRABBE JJ.A. AND
EDWARD WIREDU J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF CHARLES CRABBE J.A.<o:p></o:p>This
case, civil appeal No. 104/78 began its course in these courts as an
application for an order for:<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">“a writ
of habeas corpus ad subjuciendum to issue directed to the Attorney-General and
the Assistant Director, Ghana Prisons Service, Ho, to have the bodies of Quaye
Mensah and Davis Kwakye before the High Court, Ho, to undergo and receive all
and singular such matters and things as [that] court shall there and then
consider concerning [the two persons].”<o:p></o:p>In the
affidavit supporting the application for the writ it is stated:<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">“That the
applicants were variously arrested between 5 to 14 April 1978. That they have
since their arrest been kept in prison for reasons which have not been
sufficiently disclosed. That presently, the applicants namely Quaye Mensah and
Davis Kwakye are being kept at the Ho Prisons. That to the best of my
information it is being alleged that the applicants are being kept in prison
for their own safety. That the lives of the applicants have never been in
danger and they have never requested any such protection. That the applicants
have not done anything to warrant their being kept in prison . . .”<o:p></o:p>Leave was
granted. There was a supplementary affidavit in the following terms:<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">“That
since the swearing of the [original] affidavit new facts have come to the
knowledge of my principal in respect of the first applicant, Quaye Mensah, to
which facts I have been authorised to depose in this supplementary affidavit.
That the said first applicant was arrested at his house at Alarjo, a suburb of
Accra on Wednesday 5 April 1978 at about 7.30 p.m. That the said arrest was
effected by one Superintendent Abraham C. Ofei of Tesano Police Station, Accra.
That on the arrest of the first applicant herein the said superintendent said
that the said applicant was being wanted at the Tesano Police Station for
interrogation by a panel of investigators without stating what crime or offence
the said applicant had committed. That the first applicant, a blind man and an
asthmatic patient, aged 82 years, was therefore without any sympathy taken to
the Tesano Police, Station, Accra, for apparently no just cause. That at the
said police station the said applicant was detained without any interrogation.
That I am informed that he was taken that very night to Achimota Police Station
where he passed the night. That on the following day his son, Abdul Jelil Quaye
of Accra visited him and discovered that his health had deteriorated and he was
in a critical condition. That despite incessant requests, supplications and
entreaties for his hospitalisation and treatment he was sent to the Ho Prisons
where he has since been kept. That the first applicant’s physical condition is
so grave, serious and critical that if he is not released immediately he will
most probably lose his life in prison for apparently no offence. That before
the arrest of the said applicant the police had gone to the first applicant’s
house in search of his son Mohamed Quaye who is now at large. That it is
suspected that the first applicant was arrested merely because the police could
not find his son for it is difficult to see how the first applicant, a
blindman, could have committed any subversive offence . . .”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The Assistant
Director of Prisons submitted the following report:<o:p></o:p>REPORT OF
THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF PRISONS, HO, VOLTA REGION PURSUANT TO SECTION 2 (b)
OF THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT, 1964 (ACT 244)<o:p></o:p>I,
ALEXANDER AHENE KOFI NUNOO, Assistant Director of Prisons, Ho, and in charge of
the Ghana Prisons Service in the Volta Region of Ghana submit the following
report:<o:p></o:p>[p.433]
of [1979] GLR 429<o:p></o:p>