REPUBLIC vs. KONKOMBA, [1987]DLHC1197

Date	1987-01-12
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1987]DLHC1197

TAYLOR J.

AGUDETSE SENIOR STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE REPUBLIC.

G. K. MENSAH FOR THE ACCUSED

[1987]DLHC1197
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >REPUBLIC <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>KONKOMBA,<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT, TAMALE]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[1979] GLR 270<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:
12 JANUARY 1978<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">

AGUDETSE, SENIOR 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;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

TAYLOR J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF TAYLOR J.<o:p></o:p>I have
had considerable difficulty in deciding the issue in this case as to
admissibility since the submissions which counsel made were not supported by
any decided cases at all. The senior state attorney, Mr. Agudetse, promised to
make available some authorities but I have received none and my ruling is
therefore based on the result of my own researches unassisted, I regret to say,
by counsel.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
accused person in this case is facing a charge of murder. It is in the present
state of things, the most serious offence known to our law. The person alleged
to have been murdered by the accused is his nephew. The offence is alleged to
have been committed on 28 March 1975, at Bule village. On 31 March 1975 an
investigation statement on caution was taken from the accused. In this
statement he denied knowing anything about the case. This is what he said on
caution:<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 know
the deceased Mbagara as my nephew. We were all staying together when the
deceased father quitted to Ghafoyole village. On 27 March 1975, the deceased
came and greeted me as he came from Ghafoyole. After we exchanged the greetings
he went away. I did not see him and did not hear anything again until in the
morning of 29 March 1975, 1 had information that someone had killed him. I
became surprised so I could not visit the scene until I heard that some
policemen came there. In fact as I am an old man and also sick I don’t go among
the young men and so I do not know whether there was any previous quarrel
between the deceased and any other person. I do not know anything about the
death of my nephew Mbagara Konkomba.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>On 4
April 1975 another investigation statement was taken from him, This was a
statement in which the accused allegedly admitted the crime. When in the course
of the trial the prosecution attempted to tender this statement in evidence,
the defence objected to it on the ground that when the accused made the
statement he was mentally disturbed as a result of the serious injury to
himself and for which he was on admission. The prosecution maintained that the
statement was admissible on the ground that it was the physical health or the
accused which was deteriorating and not his mind and since a witness had said
the accused was normal and no inducement or threat had been held out to him,
the statement was voluntary and thus admissible.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Before
considering the legal significance of these submissions, I think the facts
which emerged, inter alia, from the voir dire need to be considered. The
circumstances surrounding the taking of this second statement on caution are
that a report was made to the police that the accused who had previously given
a statement to the police had packed his belongings and was about to leave his
village. When the policeman who subsequently took his statement arrived at the
village, he found that the accused was lying down in a pool of blood. He found
a deep wound on his left thigh. He questioned the accused as to what caused the
wound but the accused did not answer. He took the accused to hospital. He
feared that the accused who was on admission at the hospital might die and so
he procured an independent witness who interpreted a statement which he took
from the accused. This is how the second statement of 4 April 1975 came to be
made. The wound which the accused had on his thigh, a deep wound, was
self-inflicted by the accused. His explanation on the voir dire is 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">“I cut
myself because the deceased is my son; when I was at Nankpanyuri village he
used to come to help me in my farm. The father did not like me. I was staying
alone at Nankpanyuri and lie asked me to come home to join him at Yantan which
I did. My younger brother also left Yantan for Worubo and when he left the
second prosecution witness wanted to migrate to a different place when my
younger brother died at his place where lie went. I did not make any statement
at the hospital. I cut myself because the deceased was my son and I should have
died before him in order that lie performs my funeral rites. Since he died
before, it is as if I am also dead.”<o:p></o:p>