THE REPUBLIC vs. SAMUEL ABEKU TURKSON [2020]DLCA9346

Date	2020-05-06
Suit No.	CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.: H2/6/2020
Citation No.	[2020]DLCA9346

IRENE C. LARBI (MRS) J.A. (PRESIDING)

A. M. DOMAKYAAREH (MRS) J.A.

GEORGINA MENSAH-DATSA (MRS.) J.A.

NANA AISHA SALIFU ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY WITH JONATHAN ODARTEY ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY FOR THE RESPONDENT

SOLOMON GYESI FOR THE APPELLANT.

[2020]DLCA9346
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >THE
REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>(RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>SAMUEL
ABEKU TURKSON<o:p></o:p>(APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p>[COURT
OF APPEAL, CAPE COAST]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">

<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;line-height:normal;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.: H2/6/2020&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: 6TH MAY, 2020<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Yu Gothic UI Semilight&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">NANA AISHA SALIFU,
ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY WITH JONATHAN ODARTEY, ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY
FOR THE RESPONDENT.<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify;line-height:106%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
line-height:106%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,serif;mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Yu Gothic UI Semilight&quot;;
mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">SOLOMON GYESI FOR
THE APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Yu Gothic UI Semilight&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p></o:p>IRENE
C. LARBI (MRS) J.A. (PRESIDING),A. M.
DOMAKYAAREH (MRS) J.A., GEORGINA
MENSAH-DATSA (MRS.) J.A.<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
border-left:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;border-right:none;
padding:1.0pt 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">

<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;line-height:normal;border:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>DOMAKYAAREH
(MRS), J.A<o:p></o:p>[1] This
is an appeal from the judgment of the High Court, Cape Coast in the exercise of
its Appellate jurisdiction dated 26th July 2018.&nbsp; The events leading to the instant appeal are
that the Appellant and three others A2, A3 and A4 (A4 being at large) were
arranged before the Circuit Court, Cape Coast and jointly charged with two offences,
namely: 1. Conspiracy to commit crime, to wit, robbery contrary to Section
23(1) of Act 29/60 and Section 149 of Act 29/60 as amended by Act 646 of 2004;
and 2. Robbery contrary to Section 149 of Act 29/60 as amended by Act 646 of
2004.&nbsp; The Appellant alone was also
charged with one Count of Possession of Firearms without lawful excuse contrary
to Section 192(1) of Act 29/60 as substituted by paragraph 11 of NLCD 398.<o:p></o:p>[2] The
salient facts which triggered the prosecutions were that on the night of 30th
November 2010, the Appellant (A1 therein) and the three others in masks,
attacked the Complainant with guns and knives at his Residence and demanded
that he should give them all his money.&nbsp;
The Complainant refused.&nbsp; A
struggle then ensued between him and the Appellant in the course of which the Appellant
drew out his gun and pointed it at the Complainant and threatened to shoot
him.&nbsp; A2 who happened to be the
biological brother of the Complainant, sensing that the Appellant will shoot
his brother, hit the gun from the Appellant’s hand and the gun fell down.&nbsp; They attempted to flee the scene but the Complainant
managed to get hold of A2 and with the help of PW2 unmasked him and
subsequently handed him over to the Police.&nbsp;
The Appellant, A3, and A4 who managed to flee the scene were later
arrested by the Police.&nbsp; Upon a search at
the Appellant’s house after his arrest, the Police retrieved an unregistered
locally manufactured gun and 12 cartridges.&nbsp;
A4 has remained at large till date.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>[3] A1,
A2 and A3 all pleaded not guilty to the charges.&nbsp; At the end of the trial at the Circuit Court,
the Appellant (A1 therein) and A4 were convicted on count 1.&nbsp; The Appellant was sentenced 15 years
imprisonment.&nbsp; The Appellant alone was
convicted on count 2 and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.&nbsp; The Appellant was also convicted on count 3
and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.&nbsp;
All the sentences were to run concurrently.<o:p></o:p>[4] The Appellant
appealed against both his conviction and sentence to the High Court on 24th
February 2017 pursuant to leave granted by the Court on 1st February
2017.&nbsp; On 26th July 2018, the Appellate
High Court delivered its judgment.&nbsp; The
appeal was dismissed save that the Appellate High Court set aside the
conviction for robbery and substituted same with attempted robbery.&nbsp; The Appellate High Court set aside the
conviction for robbery on the ground that a basic ingredient of the offence of
robbery was not proved by the Prosecution.&nbsp;
This is because although the facts as given by the Prosecution indicted
that the Appellant stole money (Gh¢60.00) and a DVD player, there was no
evidence at the trial that any item of PW1 the Complainant was stolen.&nbsp; The Record thus indicated that the Appellant
did not succeed in stealing at gun point.<o:p></o:p>[5] The Appellant
is still aggrieved by the judgment of the Appellate High Court and is now
before this Court on appeal both against his conviction for attempted robbery
and the affirmation of his Sentence by the Appellate High Court.&nbsp; Per the Petition of Appeal filed on 25th
September 2019, the Appellant listed two Grounds of Appeal, namely: - <o:p></o:p>