ROGER AGBADI vs. THE REPUBLIC [2018]DLCA5098

Date	2018-10-25
Suit No.	CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.: H2/4/18
Citation No.	[2018]DLCA5098

KUSI-APPIAH JA (PRESIDING)

C. J. HONYENUGA JA

DENNIS ADJEI JA

MR. JASPER DOE (SSA) FOR THE RESPONDENT

MR. WILFRED BABA AVIO FOR APPELLANTS

[2018]DLCA5098
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >ROGER AGBADI<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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CRIMINAL
APPEAL NO.: H2/4/18&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; DATED:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 25TH OCTOBER, 2018<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>MR. JASPER DOE, (SSA) FOR THE RESPONDENT<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>KUSI-APPIAH JA
(PRESIDING), C. J. HONYENUGA JA, DENNIS ADJEI JA<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" align="center" style="text-align:center;border:none;
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</div>HONYENUGA,
JA<o:p></o:p>The appellant and
three others were convicted by the Circuit Court Accra on the 4th
day of April, 2014 on the offences of conspiracy to commit crime to wit robbery
contrary to Sections 23(1) and 149 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 as
amended by the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act, 2003, Act 646.&nbsp; They were also convicted on the substantive
offence of robbery contrary to section 149 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960
as amended by Act 646 for having robbed their victim of one Toyota Camry car, 2
pieces of jewelry, 4 Laptops, 5 Mobile phones, 3 Digital Cameras, 2 Cameras,
One portal storage disk drive, three children watches, three ladies Tissot
watches, one Toshiba flat screen Television, two DVD players, one DSTV Decoder
box, one ladies blouse, two torches, one Moet Champagne, one Large suitcase, 38
CDS all to the total value of GH¢639,964.50.&nbsp;
The trial judge sentenced the appellant and three others each to ten
years with hard labour on the conspiracy charge but sentenced each convict to
twenty years with hard labour.&nbsp; The
sentences were to run concurrently.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The facts of this
appeal were that on the 18th day of March 2010, at about 11am, the
Regional Police Headquarters, Accra acting upon a tip off that a group of four
young men suspected to be robbers were offering one Toyota Camry vehicle Number
GT 844 X for sale.&nbsp; A team of Police
detectives then went to the scene where they arrested the appellant, the second
and fourth convicts and retrieved the said Toyota Camry vehicle.&nbsp; Upon interrogation, the convicts mentioned
the third convict, a house boy to one Aku Orleons-Lindsay, the complainant in
House Number 6, Monrovia road, East Legon as the one who led them to the said
house.&nbsp; The third convict was
subsequently arrested.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>A search conducted
in the house of the second convict located at Sowutuom led to the retrieval of
all the items listed on the charge sheet including a toy pistol, one hammer,
one spanner, one chisel, one plier, one screw driver, one kitchen knife and one
scissors.&nbsp; The complainant later in the
day reported to the Police that at about 9am that morning, she had a call from
her housemaid, Janet Afful that about 8.30am, a group of robbers entered her
house and armed with a pistol, tied her up with rope and stole all the items
listed in the charge sheet.&nbsp; The
housemaid later identified the appellant and others as those who entered the
house and robbed.&nbsp; The complainant
identified all the items retrieved from the second convict’s house as
hers.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Upon hearing the
case to its logical conclusion, the learned Circuit Court Judge on the 25th
April, 2012 convicted and sentenced the appellant and others to 10 years IHL on
the Conspiracy charge but sentenced them on the substantive offence of robbery
to 20 years IHL.&nbsp; The sentences were to
run concurrently.&nbsp; Not satisfied with the
conviction and sentence, the appellant appealed to the High Court.&nbsp; On the 4th day of April 2014, the
learned High Court Judge upheld the convictions but allowed the appeal against
sentence and reduced the sentence on the robbery from 20 years to 15 years
IHL.&nbsp; The appellant was in addition
bonded to be of good behaviour for 5 years.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The appellant being
aggrieved against the judgment of the High Court appealed to this court on the
following grounds:-<o:p></o:p>“a.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The trial Circuit Judge and the High
Court Judge failed to adequately consider the case of the appellant.<o:p></o:p>b.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The High Court Judge erred when he
confirmed the conviction of the appellant by the trial Circuit Court based on
the evidence of PW1 that the appellant was among the robbers.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;c.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The
sentence is harsh and excessive.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;d.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Further
grounds may be filed upon receipt of the record”.<o:p></o:p>It is noted that
the appellant did not file further grounds of appeal and they are considered
abandoned.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Arguing the appeal,
the learned counsel for the appellant’s main submission is that the appellant’s
expla</main>