KWASI BREKUM vs THE REPUBLIC
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HIS LORDSHIP JUSTICE ALHAJ ABDULLAH IDDRISU,
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Appellant was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment for defilement of a minor. On appeal, he argued that the sentence was harsh for a first-time offender. The appellate court found that the trial court did not properly consider mitigating factors and reduced the sentence to nine years, emphasizing the importance of reformation in sentencing.
This is an appeal against sentence.
On a plea of not guilty to a charge of defilement of a female under the age of sixteen years contrary to Section 101 of Act 29/60 as amended by Section 11 of Act 554/98, the Appellant was taken through trial, convicted and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment in hard labour and in addition ordered to pay an amount of GH₵300 to the victim to defray part of her medical bills.
The Appellant who is unrepresented in arguing his appeal stated that the sentence imposed was harsh and he being a first time offender should not have been given the harsh sentence.
The grounds of appeal are that the Appellant has regretted his action and out of remorse he is praying the Court to reduce the sentence.
That his life has undergone a significant positive transformation and he was to keep away from all forms of crime in future and that he has learnt his lessons during the period he has so far served in prison since his arrest. Learned Assistant State Attorney in her reply referred to the fact that the Appellant was tried in a court of competent jurisdiction after he pleaded not guilty.
She stated that the punishment for defilement is pegged between 7-25 years imprisonment which gives a wide discretion to the trial court in passing sentence because the law foresees the variation of the facts and the circumstances of each case.
It is counsel’s contention that the sentencing authority is encouraged to consider several mitigating and aggravating factors before passing sentence.
In the case of conviction for defilement aggravating factors will include how young the victim was, the age gap between the victim and the accused, the degree of injury suffered by the victim.
Counsel emphasized more on the aggravating factors and was therefore not surprised that the trial court imposed a sentence of 15 years on the Appellant.
In dealing with an appeal of this nature, the court has the duty to find out whether there were any mitigating factors which the trial court took into consideration or failed to take into consideration.
If the record reveals that the court took all the said mitigation factors into consideration before imposing sentence then the court’s discretion can be said to have been properly exercised and in the absence of any special circumstances, the appellate court will be slow to interfere with such a sentence.
If however the record does not show or reveal that the trial court took into consideration any such mitigating fac