G/L/CPL EKOW RUSSEL v. REPUBLIC
2013
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- APALOO JA (PRESIDING)
- DUOSE JA
- DANQUAH JA
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence Law
- Constitutional Law
2013
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The appellant, a police officer, was convicted of possession and supply of narcotic drugs and sentenced to 12 years. The appellant challenged the trial court on various grounds including the sufficiency of the charges, the admission of evidence, and the harshness of the sentence. The court dismissed all appeals, maintaining that the charge sheet, evidence, and sentencing were appropriate and legally sound. The judgment upheld that the appellant's confession and handling of drugs sufficed for conviction, reaffirming principles related to charges, possession, admissibility of confessions, and sentencing considerations for professionals committing crimes. The court stressed the importance of deterring law enforcement officers from criminal activities.
J U D G M E N T
APALOO JA; The appellant G/L/CPL Ekow Russel was charged with three counts of Possession of Narcotic Drugs contrary to section 2 of the Narcotic Drugs (Control, Enforcement and Sanctions) Act, 1990, PNDCL 236, Supply of Narcotic Drug contrary to section 6(1) of PNDCL 236 and Engaging in Prohibited business relating to Narcotic drugs contrary to section 3(1) of PNDCL 236. The appellant was tried before the High Court Accra, was convicted on the first two counts, to wit Possession of Narcotic drugs and Supply of Narcotic drugs and sentenced to 12 years IHL. He was however acquitted on the third count of Engaging in Prohibited business relating to Narcotic Drugs. It is against this conviction and sentence that he has filed this appeal on four grounds and the grounds are;
1. “Count one (1) of the charge sheet is incurably bad.
2. The trial Judge erred when he admitted Exhibits F and G into evidence.
3. The trial Judge further erred in Law when he relied solely on Exhibit F to convict the appellant.
4. The sentence is harsh and ambigious.”
The prosecution had alleged at the Court below that one Maxwell Antwi now deceased, a car dealer at Nyamekye, a suburb of Accra was arrested on 27th March, 2007 by L/Cpl Thomas Anyekase on suspicion of having in his possession, a quantity of narcotic drug which he was offering for sale. A search conducted on him revealed some whitish substance, suspected to be cocaine. When he was interrogated subsequently, he disclosed that the substance was part of some 900 grams of similar substance the appellant gave him to sell on his behalf.
Maxwell Antwi further stated that he had already sold some and handed over the money to the appellant and that he was in the process of offering the rest of the substance for sale when he was arrested. The Appellant, L/Cpl Ekow Russel was a Police Officer attached to the Regional Headquarters Accra. When he was arrested by the Police upon Maxwell Antwi’s information he confirmed the story of Maxwell Antwi and further stated that he had given the substance to Antwi to sell on his behalf, after he had obtained the substance from some Nigerian drug dealers. The substance in question proved positive for cocaine after laboratory analysis.
While investigations into the matter were going on, it was revealed that on 16th January, 2007 the appellant received information from one Michael Obeng Ntim@Joe and some Nigerians that, one Sabestian Uba, a Nigerian was dealing in drugs. Acc