GABRIEL JOANNE v. THE REPUBLIC

This Supreme Court judgment concerns an appeal by the third accused, identified on the charge sheet as Gabriel Joanne, an American student, convicted after changing her plea to guilty in a summary trial for attempting to export and possessing a narcotic drug. NACOB officers at Kotoka International Airport found drugs in her shoes, and she voluntarily produced pellets from her vagina; testing indicated heroin. After initially insisting on counsel and pleading not guilty with counsel, she later appeared without counsel and changed her plea to guilty, resulting in a ten-year sentence and an order of deportation. The Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal. On further appeal, Justice Rose Owusu authored the lead majority opinion dismissing the appeal, with Justices Adinyira and Anin Yeboah concurring. They held that under Act 30 section 171(3), the trial judge could accept an unequivocal guilty plea in a summary trial without the inquiries required for indictments under section 199; joinder of the accused was proper; and discrepancies in the charge sheet (cocaine vs. heroin) did not cause a miscarriage of justice, though the Court of Appeal erred in speculating about amendment. Justices Dotse and Gbadegbe dissented, emphasizing constitutional rights to counsel and best practices, and would have allowed the appeal and ordered the appellant’s release.