RICHMOND KWABLA DZANGMATEY (APPELLANT) vs. THE REPUBLIC (RESPONDENT) [2019]DLSC7843

Date	2019-10-30
Suit No.	CRIMINAL APPEAL SUIT NO. J3/7/2017
Citation No.	[2019]DLSC7843

DOTSE JSC (PRESIDING)

BAFFOE-BONNIE JSC

MARFUL-SAU JSC

DORDZIE JSC

AMEGATCHER JSC

KWAME OBOUR FOR THE APPELLANT.

FRANCES MULLEN-ANSAH CHIEF STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE RESPONDENT.

[2019]DLSC7843
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >RICHMOND KWABLA DZANGMATEY<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>[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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CRIMINAL APPEAL SUIT NO. J3/7/2017&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: 30TH OCTOBER
2019<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>KWAME
OBOUR 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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FRANCES
MULLEN-ANSAH, CHIEF STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE RESPONDENT.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<o:p></o:p>DOTSE JSC (PRESIDING), BAFFOE-BONNIE JSC, MARFUL-SAU JSC, DORDZIE JSC, AMEGATCHER
JSC<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;border:none;
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</div>THE UNANIMOUS JUDGMENT OF THE COURT IS READ BY
AMEGATCHER JSC, AS FOLLOWS-:<o:p></o:p>The appellant was convicted of murder
by the High Court, Koforidua, after a murder verdict of the jury.&nbsp; Following
the conviction, he was sentenced
to death by hanging. An eighteen-year-old JSS school
girl, Christiana Apafo was the victim of the crime. The appellant lived
with the deceased in the same vicinity in Volivo, in the Eastern Region. The
parents of the deceased had warned him about his amorous association with the
deceased. On 4th March 1995, after the deceased and her father had
returned from buying food and her father had gone into his room, the appellant and
the deceased engaged in a quarrel which resulted in him stabbing her. When the
deceased’s father, who was just next door rushed to the aid of his daughter following
shouts from her, the appellant also stabbed him in the neck. The struggle and
accompanying shouts attracted a crowd in the area. Some men grabbed the appellant
and took him to the police station. Christiana Apafo could not make it as she
died almost instantly. In the case of the father, he ended up in hospital with
his wounds. <o:p></o:p>From the perspective of the appellant, the death
and attack came out of self-defense. The appellant claimed that the deceased
had been pledged to be married to him but that because she was still in school,
her father had told him to stay away from her until she was older. According to
his testimony, at the time of the murder, the deceased had been pulling and
biting on his penis while the father held him at his neck; he claims that he
grabbed the bottle and stabbed them both out of self-defense. <o:p></o:p>The jury was not swayed by the explanation of the
appellant after receiving the summing up direction from the trial judge. It
returned a verdict of guilty of murder. Dissatisfied with the verdict, the
appellant appealed to the Court of appeal on 3rd February 2014 seeking
to quash the conviction on four main grounds of appeal: that the trial judge
misdirected himself in his summing up to the jury; that the trial judge
misdirected the jury in his summing up; that the verdict of the jury is
unreasonable in light of the evidence before it; and that the trial judge erred
when he failed to consider the defence of the appellant adequately. <o:p></o:p>On 28th October 2015, the Court of
Appeal dismissed the appeal, stating emphatically that not every misdirection
or non-direction will persuade an appellate court to allow an appeal, unless it
was such as to render the judgment unreasonable or unsupported by evidence on
record or based on a wrong decision or occasioning a miscarriage of justice.
The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge properly directed the jury on all
material aspects, including the defences of self-defence and provocation; and
stated further that if it were, as an appellate court, to assume the position
of a reasonable jury hearing the evidence, it would convict the appellant of
murder. <o:p></o:p>The appellant has lodged the instant appeal to
this court on the following grounds:<o:p></o:p>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The
court of appeal erred when it affirmed the conviction and sentence of the trial
high court.<o:p></o:p>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The
court of appeal erred when it held that the irregularities at the trial court
was not fatal.<o:p></o:p>3.