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April 14, 1967
COURT OF APPEAL
CORAM
JUDGMENT OF AZU CRABBE J.A.
Azu Crabbe J. A. delivered the judgment of the court. In this case the appellants, together with three others, were charged with conspiracy to steal and with stealing the sum of £G2,325 (¢5,580.00), the property of the complainant, one Alhaji Wajeb Salmanu Olaiya Jaji. The trial was in the Central Circuit Court, Cape Coast, and on 20 May 1966 the two appellants were convicted on both charges and sentenced accordingly, whilst the other three accused persons were acquitted and discharged. The learned judge of the circuit court made an order that the amount of £G908 6s. 8d. paid by the father of the first appellant, and the sum of ¢130 found on the driver of the first appellant, should be regarded as money paid in respect of the first appellant and be returned to the complainant. Against their convictions the appellants have now appealed to this court on a number of grounds. In one of these grounds it is alleged that the restitution order made by the learned circuit court judge, that the sum of £G908 6s. 8d. paid by the first appellant's father should be paid to the complainant, is erroneous.
The facts, so far as they are relevant to the only question of substance in this appeal, are that on Monday, 4 October 1965, the complainant, who was driving his Volkswagon car from Cape Coast to Accra, was involved in an accident at mile 49 between the Mankesim and Winneba junction. He was seriously injured and became unconscious. Amongst those who arrived at the scene were the first and second appellants. The first appellant was the District Commissioner of Breman Asikuma, and the second appellant was the district chairman of the Breman Asikuma branch of the proscribed Convention Peoples' Party. They arrived in the same car, and riding with them were the fourth accused, district secretary of the party, and the fifth accused, driver for the first appellant. Later, the third accused, who was travelling from Cape Coast, also arrived at the spot. Before the arrival of these persons at the scene of the accident, the complainant had been conveyed by another vehicle to [p.221] the Saltpond hospital. In the wreckage of the complainants' car was found a Bank of West Africa (B.W.A.) money-bag containing coins and also a scarf which was tied around several currency notes. When the scarf was untied, it was discovered by all the witnesses present that it contained several currency notes of £G1, £G5 and cedi denominations. The scarf was retied, and th
AI Generated Summary
Azu Crabbe JA, sitting with OLLENNU and APALOO, delivered the judgment of the Court of Appeal on appeals by two men convicted in the Central Circuit Court, Cape Coast, of conspiracy and theft of cash belonging to Alhaji Wajeb Salmanu Olaiya Jaji. After Jaji’s Volkswagen crashed near Mankesim–Winneba junction, a Bank of West Africa money bag and scarf of currency were found and entrusted to the first appellant, the District Commissioner of Breman Asikuma. At Apam Police Station, cedi notes totaling ¢1,200 remained but old £G1 and £G5 notes had disappeared. Police later found currency wrappers and Jaji’s documents at the first appellant’s premises; the second appellant confessed a £G320 share and described related loans, including payments by the first appellant’s father. The appellate court rejected arguments that the trial judge shifted the burden regarding voluntariness, affirmed the convictions, but set aside the circuit court’s restitution order for £G908 6s. 8d. paid by the first appellant’s father under section 146 of Act 30.