KOKOMBA v. THE STATE
1966
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- SARKODEE-ADOO C.J.
- BRUCE-LYLE
- SIRIBOE JJ.S.C
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
1966
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The appellant was convicted of murder but appealed on grounds including the inadequate summing-up of defensive arguments. The appeal was allowed, resulting in the conviction being reduced to manslaughter with a sentence of five years' imprisonment. Key legal principles established include the necessity for extreme circumstances to justify self-defense, and the requirement for provocation to be measured by its likely impact on the accused's self-control, not merely on a reasonable person.
JUDGMENT OF BRUCE-LYLE J.S.C.
Bruce-Lyle J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. This is an appeal against a conviction for murder dated 12 December 1963, at the Criminal Session, Tamale. The facts as put up by the prosecution are that the appellant who was the step-father of the deceased lived with the deceased and the deceased's mother Tafah Kokomba, the first witness for the prosecution, in the same house at Kitare village in the Northern Region. On 1 March 1963, a market day, whilst the [p.203] first witness for the prosecution was in the yard of the house she noticed that the appellant and the deceased were fighting and that the fight started outside and continued into the yard; the first witness for the prosecution, being alone in the house, ran out to get someone to help her separate the fighters. On returning to the house she met the deceased coming out of the house; the deceased showed her a fresh stabwound at the base of his neck and told her "Mother, father has killed me." He further intimated to the first prosecution witness that he was going to the police station to make a report; about 58 yards from the house, the deceased fell down and died on the spot. The police later got to the scene and arrested the appellant who, on being questioned, admitted having stabbed the deceased with a knife he was then holding and that he also had tied round his waist the sheath. The first prosecution witness deposed in her evidence that there was no trouble between the deceased and the appellant and there was no evidence by any of the prosecution witnesses from which motive for the act can be gleaned.
When the appellant was charged he volunteered a statement on caution in which he admitted killing the deceased and gave as his reasons for so doing the following:
"I remember yesterday 1 March 1963 was a market day. Round about 6 p.m. I was sitting in the house when I heard the deceased's voice in angry tones. I asked him with whom was he quarrelling but he grabbed me and dashed me to the ground. I sustained abrasions on both knees as a result. I therefore ran inside my room and took my knife. I aimed it at his chest but he dodged the blow and it stabbed him in the neck. I did not intend to stab him in the neck."
The-post mortem examination revealed the following:
"The body was that of an adult male of about 35 years old. It was practically smeared with blood particularly on the left side of the body. It was clotted on the skin surface and you can scra