IBRAHIM HARUNA (ALIAS SHEHU) v THE REPUBLIC
2024
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
2024
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
AI Generated Summary
In this appeal, the Appellant challenged his conviction by the High Court for importing and possessing narcotic drugs without a license. Despite the Appellant's claims of ignorance about the contents of his luggage and allegations of tampered evidence, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction. The Court found no merit in the arguments about the burden of proof or the adequacy of evidence and ruled that reasonable doubts had not been established. The court also determined that the trial judge appropriately considered all relevant factors in sentencing, and thus the sentence was not excessive.
BARTELS-KODWO, JA:
Introduction
This is an appeal by the Appellant against the judgment of the High Court, Accra, convicting the Accused/Appellant (hereinafter called 'the Appellant' ) of the charges of Importation of Narcotic Drug without license issued by the Minister of Health and Possession of Narcotic Drug Without Lawful Authority contrary to sections 1(1) and 2(1) of the Narcotic Drugs (Control, Enforcement & Sanctions) Act 1990 PNDCL 236.
Background
The facts of this case as recounted by the trial Judge are that on the 18th of April 2018, the Appellant, traveling on a Ghanaian passport with Passport Number G2003857 disembarked from South African Airlines flight number SA 209. Following his disembarkation, the Appellant was confronted by officials from the Narcotics Control
Board (NACOB) who asked him to identify his luggage. The Appellant is said to have picked a blue bag with his name on the tags.
Following this, the officials from NACOB conducted a search on the Appellant's possessions during which substances suspected to be narcotic drugs were found to have been concealed in false compartments of the bag. The substances were tested and tests revealed that the substances were the controlled substances cocaine and heroin.
The Appellant is said to have alleged that one Rashid, a car dealer, secured a visa for him, paid for his travel, gave him money for his upkeep while in South Africa. While in South Africa, the Accused alleges that he was approached by a friend of the said Rashid, who gave him the blue bag to hand over to Rashid upon his return to Accra. According to the Appellant, he then packed his belongings into the blue bag. The Appellant denied knowledge of the contents of the bag.
Following trial, the High Court found that the prosecution had satisfied the evidentiary burden and convicted the Appellant on both counts. On the first count, the Appellant was sentenced to twelve (12) years imprisonment with hard labour and on the second count, the Appellant was sentenced to pay a fine of 400 penalty units or serve twelve (12) months in prison.
Grounds of Appeal
According to the notice of criminal appeal filed pursuant to leave granted by this Court on 20th September, 2021, the grounds for this appeal are as reproduced below:
a. The Judgment delivered on the 11th March 2021 [sic] was against the weight of evidence.
b. The learned trial judge erred in law when she convicted the Accused Person based on evidence that had been tempered