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January 15, 1968
COURT OF APPEAL
CORAM
JUDGMENT OF LASSEY J.A.
This appeal presents no difficulty whatsoever, as the abundant evidence including that given by the appellant himself at the trial amply supports the verdict of murder returned by the jury after they had been properly directed both on the law and the facts.
The appellant was convicted of murder at the Criminal Session held at Ho on 20 June 1966. The deceased woman named Dimedo Aborge had once been married to a man called Aziabu who died later. She met the appellant, a stout man in his late sixties, who took her as his wife and they both lived together as man and wife in the same village for about eight years before the incident happened. Prior to her marriage to the appellant, the deceased had been living in her late husband's house in another village, but she moved from there and joined the appellant in his own house. Sooner or later domestic misunderstandings which emerged seriously strained relations between the appellant and his wife with the result that the deceased at one stage manifested her intention to leave the appellant for another man. The appellant was displeased at this state of affairs.
From the recorded evidence led at the trial it would appear that there were two main reasons which were responsible for the strained relations between the appellant and his deceased wife: first, because the appellant refused to meet the repeated requests the deceased made to him to refund to her the money which the deceased had spent in purifying herself according to custom after the death of her former husband. The appellant agreed to pay this money but had always strongly suspected that the deceased had been secretly associating with some unknown man whom she had been encouraging to visit her in her room in the appellant's house in the village.
On some two other previous occasions before the incident the appellant said he overheard the deceased engaged in conversation with some unidentified man in her room. The appellant said when he inquired about the identity of the man because he could not see or recognise the man owing to his blindness, the deceased denied that she had any man staying with her in the room. As the appellant was not satisfied with the behaviour of the deceased towards this mysterious man he warned her never to attempt to invite any unknown man secretly into her room again or else if he found out the man he would kill him.
In the evening of the fateful day on which the deceased was stabbed to death, the appella
AI Generated Summary
The Court of Appeal, per Lassey J.A., dismissed an appeal from a murder conviction arising from the killing of Dimedo Aborge by her husband, the appellant, at Ho. Dimedo, formerly married to the late Aziabu, had lived with the appellant for about eight years. Their relationship soured over disputes about purification expenses and the appellant’s suspicion that an unknown man visited Dimedo. On the evening of the incident, after overhearing conversation in her room, the appellant entered armed with a knife. When the unidentified man escaped, the appellant stabbed Dimedo three times, causing her death. His voluntary caution statement admitted the stabbing, and an eyewitness observed the attack. On appeal, counsel Mr. Asare alleged misdirection and urged provocation under section 53(c) of Act 29. The court held any misdirection harmless, found no justification or provocation, and affirmed the jury’s verdict.