JUDGMENT OF AZU CRABBE, J.S.C.
Azu Crabbe J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was convicted on 6 November 1970 at the Eastern Region Criminal Sessions held at Accra upon an indictment containing two counts: one for conspiracy, and another for robbery, and was sentenced by Koi Larbi J.S.C. (sitting as an additional judge of the High Court) to five years' imprisonment with hard labour on the first count, and fifteen years' imprisonment with hard labour on the second count, the sentences to run concurrently.
The facts, so far as they are relevant, can be shortly stated. The victim of the robbery, William Kyei Appiah, was a petrol dealer of the Agip (Ghana) Ltd., and his petrol station was on the Cantonments Road, Osu, Accra. On 7 November 1969 at about 9 p.m. he left the petrol station for his house, and carried in his hand a bag containing money and some documents. On the way he met two young men coming from the opposite direction, and after he had passed them, he looked behind and noticed that the two young men were following him. When they came close to him they seized his bag, and he exclaimed: "What is the matter!" Suddenly, he saw another person, whom he recognised as the appellant, arrive at the [p.72] spot from another direction and joined the two young men to attack him. There ensued a struggle between him and the three young men in the course of which he heard one of his assailants say "Shoot." He said he then felt that a hard object had hit his head, and he began to bleed profusely. He was blinded by the blood oozing from the wound on his head, and his assailants snatched his handbag from him and ran away with it. He had known the appellant for about two-and-a-half years before that day, and had seen the appellant at the petrol station less than an hour before the attack. The appellant said in evidence that he frequently visited the petrol station managed by the complainant, and was a friend of all the employees there. One witness, Clement Osae Asiedu, who gave evidence for the prosecution, said that he had known the appellant for two years and had seen him often at the petrol station of the complainant, and that, on the night in question, when he heard shouts of "Thief! thief!" he came out of his house and saw some people running after a caravan car. The witness said that he saw the appellant as he boarded the caravan car and disappeared.
A report of the robbery was made by the complainant to the Cantonments Police, and,
