ERIC COBBINAH @ ADOLF HITLER v. THE REPUBLIC

POKU- ACHEAMPONG, JA

This is an appeal against the judgment from an Accra High Court dated 27th February 2009.

The Appellant and four (4) other accused persons were charged with two (2) counts of offences.

They were first charged with the offence of conspiracy to commit crime namely Robbery contrary to sections 23 and 149 of the Criminal Offences Act 1960, Act 29 as amended by the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act 2003, Act 646.

Secondly, the accused persons, including the Appellant were charged with the substantive offence of Robbery contrary to section 149 of the Criminal Offences Act 1960, Act 29 as amended by Act 646.

The Appellant and the four (4) others were each convicted and sentenced on the two (2) counts to sixty-five (65) years imprisonment with hard labour.

The sentences were to run concurrently.

The brief facts of the case are as follows: On the 12th day of September 2008 at about 1:30 am, the Appellant and four (4) others armed with guns, broke into the house of the Complainant, Dr.

Robert Darko Osei and his family at North West Odorkor, Accra.

They broke into all the seven (7) rooms in the house and in the course of doing so, Lt. Col. Darko (Rtd.), the Complainant’s father was shot in the thigh.

With a gun pointed at the Complainant’s one (1) year old daughter, they managed to take away one laptop computer, four (4) mobile phones, two (2) wedding rings, jewelries and cash in the sum of One Thousand Five Hundred and Forty Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,540.00). Following a complaint to the police, the first accused Solomon Duodu was arrested after it was found he sold one of the stolen phones Nokia N70 to one Kweku.

In the course of investigations, the first accused mentioned the second accused, Eric Cobbinah (the Appellant) alias Adolf Hitler and Kingsley Amankwa (third accused) alias Spider as those who sold the phone to him.

Upon his arrest, the Appellant denied the offence.

He was however identified by a witness during an identification parade.

Following investigations, they were charged.

On their arraignment, they pleaded not guilty to the charges and having gone through a full trial, they were convicted and sentenced to sixty-five (65) years imprisonment with hard labour for each accused person and for each count.

The sentences were to run concurrently.

Aggrieved by the decision, the Appellant has mounted this appeal.

The Notice of Appeal pursuant to leave granted on 11th July 2016 is found on pages 152 – 153 of the Record of Appea