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June 26, 1978
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
JUDGMENT OF TAYLOR J.
On 5 June 1978, I allowed the appeal in this case, quashed the conviction of the appellant, set aside the concurrent sentence of three years' imprisonment with hard labour on each of the six counts imposed on him by the circuit court and acquitted and discharged him. I reserved my reasons for allowing the appeal and I now proceed to give the said reasons.
The appellant in the case is a store-keeper employed by the State Construction Corporation in their carpentry and joinery stores. He was assisted in his work at the relevant time by another employee, an assistant store-keeper, called Mabel Kwame. It is alleged that in 1973 by falsifying documents in his possession he stole a number of bedhooks, drawer handles and drawer knobs, the property of his employers. He was arraigned before the circuit court charged with falsification of accounts on four counts and stealing on four counts. The first count charged him with falsifying an original requisition form No. 147260 by entering twenty bedhooks in the said requisition in the place of the figure 2 appearing in the duplicate requisition. The stealing which was count (2) and founded on the said falsification is in respect of the extra eighteen bedhooks involved valued at ¢58.50. In count (3), the appellant was said to have falsified an original requisition form No. 143068 by entering 200 drawer handles in the place of the figure 2 appearing on the duplicate requisition. The extra 198 drawer handles valued at ¢594 involved were the subject of the stealing charge in count (4). The alleged falsification charged in count (5) was similar to the charge in count (3) and the original requisition in that count is No. 160101 and the 198 drawer handles also valued at ¢594 therein were the subject-matter of the stealing charge in count (6). Count (7) also a charge of falsification involved drawer knobs. Instead of the figure 2 on [p.74] the duplicate requisition form there was 200 on the original and the appellant was said to be responsible for the entry of 200. The 198 drawer knobs valued at ¢248.10 formed the stealing charge in count (8).
The appellant was the store-keeper from 1971 to 1974 and as I have already pointed out he had an assistant store-keeper Mabel Kwame. He has tally cards on which are recorded the various items in the store. Indeed it is the tally cards which control the items in the store and which at any point of time should show the state of the stocks. When store materials are
AI Generated Summary
Taylor J allowed the appeal of a State Construction Corporation store-keeper convicted by the circuit court of falsification of accounts and theft linked to inflated entries on requisition forms for bedhooks, drawer handles, and drawer knobs. The appellant worked alongside assistant store-keeper Mabel Kwame; both had access to the store and records, and the Works Superintendent permitted collection of materials without signed way-bills. At trial, the circuit judge inferred authorship of disputed entries by visually comparing initials, but the prosecution failed to call Mabel and did not produce the forensic handwriting results it had obtained. Emphasizing the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt and the dangers of unassisted handwriting comparison, Taylor J concluded the prosecution had not proven who altered the requisitions or that SCC suffered any loss, and quashed the convictions.