HENRY KWAKU OWUSU v. THE REPUBLIC
2016
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- ANIN YEBOAH, JSC (PRESIDING)
- BAFFOE BONNI, JSC
- BENIN, JSC
- AKAMBA, JSC
- APPAU, JSC
Areas of Law
- Constitutional Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
2016
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Henry Kwaku Owusu was convicted of exporting narcotic drugs without lawful authority and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. Despite having served over three years in pre-trial detention, neither the trial tribunal nor the Court of Appeal acknowledged this period in their judgments. The Supreme Court found that this failure violated Article 14 (6) of the 1992 Constitution, reduced the sentence accordingly, and highlighted the need for lower courts to consider pre-trial detention periods when sentencing.
APPAU, JSC:
Section 1 (1) of the Narcotic Drugs (Control, Enforcement and Sanctions) Act, 1990 [P.N.D.C.L. 236] provides:“A person who imports or exports a narcotic drug without a licence issued by the Minister responsible for Health for that purpose commits an offence and on conviction is liable to a term of imprisonment of not less than ten years”.
Article 14 (6) of the 1992 Constitution of the 4thRepublic of Ghana also provides:“Where a person is convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment for an offence, any period he has spent in lawful custody in respect of that offence before the completion of his trial shall be taken into account in imposing the term of imprisonment”.
On the 26th day of November 2008, the appellant herein, Henry KwakuOwusu, was tried and convicted by the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal on two counts of exportation of narcotic drugs without lawful authority contrary to section 1 (1) of the Narcotic Drugs (Control, Enforcement and Sanctions) Law, P.N.D.C. Law 236 of 1990. He was consequently sentenced to a prison term of fourteen (14) years with hard labour on each of the two counts to run concurrently.
Before his conviction, he had served a period of three (3) years four (4) months in lawful custody as he was never granted bail upon his arrest on 24th July 2005 up to the completion of the trial. Meanwhile, the trial Tribunal did not expressly state in its judgment of 26th November 2008 that it did take into account the period of three years four months that he had been in custody in deciding on the fourteen year jail term, as provided under Article 14 (6) of the 1992 Constitution referred to above.This failure by the trial tribunal to explicitly state that it did take into consideration this period of prior incarceration before deciding on the 14 year jail sentence and the silence of the Court of Appeal on same when it dismissed the appellant’s appeal before it, is the crux of the appeal before us.
FACTS
The facts of the case as presented by the Prosecution to the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal were that: The Narcotics Control Board of Ghana received information from Her Majesty’s Customs in the United Kingdom that they had intercepted certain narcotic drugs concealed in some food items exported from Ghana. Among the drugs intercepted were 63 kilograms of Indian hemp (Cannabis) and 2.8 kilograms of cocaine and several others.
The report explained that on 9th May 2005, a container DVRU4083109 with seal No. AX803079, c