ANSAH-SASRAKU v. THE STATE
1966
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- MILLS-ODOI
- APALOO
- SIRIBOE JJ.S.C
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law
- Sentencing
1966
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The appellant was convicted for fraud by false pretences, but the sentence was quashed due to procedural non-compliance. The case was remitted for re-sentencing.
JUDGMENT OF APALOO J.S.C.
Apaloo J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. On 9 April 1965, the appellant was convicted by the District Court, Tema, of the offence of fraud by false pretences and was sentenced by the High Court, Accra, under the Punishment of Habitual Criminals, Act, 1963,1 to ten years’ preventive custody with productive hard labour. The facts which gave rise to the prosecution and which the learned district magistrate found are as follows: some time in January 1965, the complainant who was an engineering superintendent of the Ministry of Agriculture was in dire need of money. He required the money to make good some defalcations committed in his department by his subordinate officers. As the complainant was not himself in funds, his wife saw the appellant who is a relation of her’s and requested him to give a loan to the complainant. The appellant agreed to grant a loan of £G300 to the complainant. Accordingly, the latter came down to Accra from Dunkwa for this purpose. He lodged with the appellant. This was on or about 2 January 1965.
In the evening of 7 January 1965, the appellant requested the complainant to make out a receipt for the sum of £G300 in his favour. The former did so in longhand. This was typed out by the appellant and was thereafter signed by the complainant. As the appellant promised to hand over the sum of £G300 to the complainant the next morning in return for the signed receipt, the latter left the receipt in his notebook overnight. The receipt disappeared from the note-book the next morning but the appellant admitted to the complainant that he had in fact taken it. The former then invited the latter to go with him to the bank to receive payment. Both set off for the bank and while en route, the appellant confessed to the complainant that he was then not in credit at the bank and would require some time to arrange an overdraft facility. Upon learning this, the complainant requested the return for the time being of the receipt which was still in the appellant’s possession. The appellant declined to do this and [p.296] claimed that he had in fact paid to the complainant the £G300 and obtained the receipt in acknowledgement thereof. This was found to be false.
From these facts, the learned district magistrate felt satisfied first, that the appellant represented to the complainant that he was in a position to lend the complainant £G300; secondly, that this representation was false to the knowledge of the appellant;