ANTHONY ASOMANI &ANTHONY AWUAH vs. THE REPUBLIC [2020]DLCA9372

Date	2020-03-11
Suit No.	C.A NO H2/17/2018
Citation No.	[2020]DLCA9372

MABEL M AGYEMANG (MRS) J.A (PRESIDING)

ALEX POKU ACHEAMPONG J.A

MERLEY A. WOOD (MRS) J.A

K. AMOAKO ADJEI WITH ALFRED ANTWI BOTA AND ADWOA AMOAKO ADJEI FOR APPELLANT

EMMANUEL KWESI OPARE WIREDU STATE ATTORNEY FOR REPUBLIC/RESPONDENT

[2020]DLCA9372
																																						<div class="restriction-wrapper">
														<div class="container-lg">
															<div class="row">
																<div class="col-md-12 restricted-content">
																	<div class="restricted-content-img-wrapper">
																		<div class="lock-icon bounce-7">
																			<img class=""
																				src="https://www.dennislawgh.com/dl-assets/dl-images/lock-content.png"
																				alt="Subscription based content">
																		</div>
																	</div>
																	 
																		<a href="https://www.dennislawgh.com/login"
																		class="btn btn-primary btn-lg"
																		style="font-family: 'open sans'; text-transform: capitalize; border-radius: 8px"> 
																		Login to Read Full Case </a>
																	 
																	
																</div>
															</div>
														</div>
													</div>
													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >ANTHONY ASOMANI
&amp;ANTHONY AWUAH<o:p></o:p>(APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>THE REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>(REPUBLIC/RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, KOFORIDUA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm 0cm 6.0pt 0cm">

<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;line-height:120%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 6.0pt 0cm">C.A NO H2/17/2018&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; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; DATE:&nbsp; 11TH MARCH, 2020<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;K. AMOAKO ADJEI WITH ALFRED ANTWI BOTA
AND ADWOA AMOAKO ADJEI FOR APPELLANT<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">

EMMANUEL KWESI OPARE WIREDU STATE
ATTORNEY FOR REPUBLIC/RESPONDENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:<o:p></o:p>MABEL M
AGYEMANG (MRS) J.A (PRESIDING), ALEX POKU ACHEAMPONG J.A,&nbsp;&nbsp; MERLEY A. WOOD (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>MERLEY
WOOD JA:<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
Appellant was convicted on 6th February 2014 by the High Court,
Sekondi presided over by a judge and a seven man jury for the offences of
Conspiracy to Commit Crime to wit Murder contrary to sections 23(1) and 46 of
the Criminal&nbsp;&nbsp; Offences Act, 1960 (Act
29) and Murder contrary to section 46 of the same enactment. He was sentenced
to death by hanging. <o:p></o:p>The
brief facts of the charge upon which the Appellant was arraigned are that
on10th&nbsp;&nbsp; September 2007 at about 6:00am,
while ten year old Emmanuel Kwasi Mensah Sah was sent by his mother to sell
corn dough at Sefwi Asafo, the Appellant purchased some on credit and asked him
to come for the money later in the day. The Appellant used some of the corn
dough to prepare banku which he ate with the then second accused person Samuel
Boah @ Kwaku Boah who died in the course of the trial. When later in the
afternoon the deceased went to collect the money, the Appellant informed him
that he did not as yet have the money.&nbsp;
The deceased refused to leave. At about 4:30 pm a young boy saw the
deceased standing on the verandah of the Appellant demanding the money. When at
about 5:30pm the deceased had not returned from hawking, his parents conducted
a search for him and caused a gong gong to be beaten in the town but to no
avail.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;The next day, after PW3, the father of the
deceased was informed that the deceased had been last seen on the verandah of
the Appellant, the search party went to the house of the Appellant where they
saw idols with fresh blood sprinkled on them. The Appellant when questioned,
claimed that the blood was chicken blood. The search further revealed within
the compound, a pit filled with rags as well as the body of the deceased. After
investigations, the Appellant and Samuel Boah @ Kwaku Boah were arraigned on
charges of conspiracy to commit crime and murder. In proof of its case, the
prosecution called four witnesses while the Appellant did not call any
witnesses. The Appellant was convicted and sentenced after the jury returned a
unanimous verdict against him.<o:p></o:p>Aggrieved
by the conviction and sentence, the Appellant has appealed to this Court on the
following grounds as per the Notice of Appeal filed on 31st May 2018
pursuant to leave granted by this Court on 31st May 2018.<o:p></o:p><ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="1" type="1">
 <li class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
 mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1">The verdict cannot be supported
 having regard to the evidence.<o:p></o:p></li>
 <li class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
 mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1">Misdirection by Non-direction of
 the jury on the unreliability of the forensic report.<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>3.