NOBLE ADU GYAMFI vs. THE REPUBLIC [2015]DLSC3032

Date	2015-12-02
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO. J3/5/2015
Citation No.	[2015]DLSC3032

ADINYIRA (MRS) JSC

(PRESIDING) DOTSE JSC

YEBOAH JSC

BONNIE JSC

BENIN JSC

FRANK MENSAH ESQ. FOR THE APPELLANT.

MATTHEW AMPONSAH ESQ. (CHIEF STATE ATTORNEY) FOR THE REPUBLIC.

[2015]DLSC3032
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >NOBLE ADU GYAMFI<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>THE REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>[SUPREME COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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CIVIL APPEAL NO. J3/5/2015&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;
DATE: 2ND DECEMBER, 2015<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>FRANK
MENSAH ESQ. FOR THE APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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&nbsp;MATTHEW AMPONSAH ESQ.
(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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ADINYIRA
(MRS) JSC, (PRESIDING) DOTSE JSC, YEBOAH JSC, BONNIE JSC, AND BENIN JSC&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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JUDGEMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>ADINYIRA
(MRS) JSC- <o:p></o:p>Your Lordships permit me
to start with this preamble:<o:p></o:p>“It has been said that the evidence
against the appellant is circumstantial, so it is but circumstantial evidence
is very often the best.&nbsp; It is evidence
of surrounding circumstances which by undersigned coincidence is capable of
proving a proposition with the accuracy of mathematics.&nbsp; It is no derogation of evidence to say that
it is circumstantial.”<o:p></o:p>Per
Lord Hewart C.J. in R. v. Taylor
[1928] 21 CR. App. R 20 at 21<o:p></o:p>On 21 October 2008, Noble
Adu Gyamfi (the Appellant) was convicted and sentenced to death for conspiracy,
with one other&nbsp; person at large, to
commit murder and murder of Paul Feghali a Lebanese national resident in Ghana.<o:p></o:p>On 21 November 2013, the
Court of Appeal, quashed the conviction and sentence on the conspiracy charge;
but affirmed the conviction and sentence on the charge for murder<o:p></o:p>The Appellant being
dissatisfied appealed to this Court on the grounds that:<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
i.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The conviction for murder is against the
weight of evidence.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
ii.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
There was no direct evidence to connect the
Appellant to the charge of murder and that the prosecution sought to do so by
circumstantial evidence.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
iii.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The sentence of death by hanging is too
harsh.<o:p></o:p>