BADDOO v. THE REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF AMISSAH J.A.

Amissah J.A. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was convicted upon a charge of forcible entry contrary to section 202A (1) of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29), as amended by the Criminal Code, 1960 (Amendment) (No. 2) Decree, 1966 (N.L.C.D. 47), by the district court. He appealed to the High Court which upheld the conviction. Still dissatisfied, he has now appealed to this court.

At the trial, the complainant claimed that he was the owner of a plot at Lartebiokorshie upon which he had erected a cement block fence. He visited the land once to find that part of the wall had been broken down. Investigation disclosed that the damage had been done by the appellant. According to the complainant, when the appellant was shown the damage by the police, he readily admitted having caused it. The complainant did say in his evidence that he was in possession of the land on which he built the wall. But as well be seen later no particular significance could have been attached by the trial court to this piece of evidence.

Both in statements to the police and in court, the appellant admitted breaking down the wall. But his case was that the land was his; he had obtained it by a grant from the Sempe stool some 14 years previously. He had since been in occupation of the land; he had marked it out by putting pillars on its four corners, some of these pillars still remain while others have been damaged by the complainant. In the course of his occupation, he had once placed gravel and sand on the plot, though these disappeared. He had also planted coconut trees on the land; presumably these still remain. When the complainant some time ago attempted to put up a building on the land, he, the appellant stopped him. Therefore when he found that someone had built a wall on the land, he demolished it. The simple question for determination is: Does the law allow him to do this?

Now the offence created by section 202A (1) of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29), which after a period of absence from our [p.1014] statute book starting from 1960 has now re-appeared through N.L.C.D. 47 is as follows:

"202A. (1) Whoever with violence makes an entry into any building or land, whether or not he is entitled to the possession thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, unless he does so in pursuance of a warrant or other lawful authority to use such violence."

Two things must be established if a conviction under this section is to be sustained: there