JOSEPH KWASI QUARSHIE vs. THE REPUBLIC [2018]DLCA4660

Date	2018-07-26
Suit No.	CRIMINAL APPEAL SUIT NO. H2/20/17
Citation No.	[2018]DLCA4660

GYAESAYOR JA (PRESIDING)

AMADU JA

SUURBAAREH JA

MUNIRU M. KASSIM FOR APPELLANT

SEFAKOR BATSE (MRS.) (SSA) FOR RESPONDENT

[2018]DLCA4660
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >JOSEPH KWASI QUARSHIE<o:p></o:p>(APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>THE REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>(RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p>[COURT
OF APPEAL, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;
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padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">CRIMINAL APPEAL SUIT NO. H2/20/17&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;26TH July, 2018<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>MUNIRU M. KASSIM FOR APPELLANT<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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</div>CORAM:<o:p></o:p>GYAESAYOR JA (PRESIDING), AMADU JA, SUURBAAREH JA<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%;
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solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0in 1.0pt 0in">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>GYAESAYOR,
JA<o:p></o:p>The Appellant herein, Joseph Kwasi Quarshie, was
tried and convicted of the offence of murder contrary to section 46 of the
Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29). The facts are well rehearsed in the
record of appeal. For the avoidance of doubt however, I repeat them.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The complainant is a professional driver and the
father of Naomi Wapeah Ayagah, the deceased in this case. Both of them lived
together at Maamobi whereas the accused a welder lived at Alajo. On 22/10/2012
at about 10:30pm the deceased’s father, the complainant in the case overheard
his daughter exchanging words with somebody on her cell phone and so he demanded
to know who that person was and she told him that it was her boyfriend, the
accused person in the case. A few minutes after the call she told her father
that she was proceeding to Alajo that night because the accused had asked her
to come and pack her dirty dresses from his room. The complainant and his son
persuaded her not to go and that it was late but she insisted that she wanted
to go and pack her things so she left. Sometime later after she left, a taxi
cab pulled up in front of the complainant’s house and the accused who was also
an occupant of the taxi came out and informed the deceased’s father that he had
been stabbed with a knife by the deceased and needed medical attention. The
complainant then saw his daughter in a pool of blood with stab wounds lying
down at the back of the taxicab. The complainant escorted the two of them to
the Ridge Hospital at Accra. The complainant’s daughter, the deceased was
pronounced dead on arrival. That night the medical officer invited the police,
after examining the wound of the accused and he was treated, discharged and
handed over to them that same night. Investigations revealed that, when the
deceased arrived in the house of the accused, there was a misunderstanding
between the two of them and in the course of it the accused stabbed the left
breast of the deceased with a kitchen knife after which he cut himself twice
with the knife. He denied stabbing the deceased and stated in his statement
that he did not know how the deceased sustained the stab wounds and that it
must have been in the course of the struggle that the knife cut the deceased.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The grounds of appeal as stated in the notice of
appeal and the additional grounds filed are set forth:<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>GROUNDS OF APPEAL<o:p></o:p>(a)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The
verdict of the Jury was unreasonable in the light of the evidence before the
court.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>(b1) That the Trial Judge misdirected the Jury in
his summing up, and this led to a substantial miscarriage of justice.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>(b2) That the Trial Judge erred when he failed to
consider the defence of the Appellant adequately, leading to a substantial
miscarriage of justice.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Even though the additional grounds of appeal were
filed w</main>