JUDGMENT OF AKUFO-ADDO C.J.
The appellants were charged on two counts of conspiracy to steal and stealing before the District Magistrate at Tema and convicted on the two counts and sentenced to a day’s imprisonment and a fine of N¢80.00 each. The facts upon which the prosecution relied were as hereunder stated.
The second appellant was a driver employed by a company known as the Ghana Rubber Products, and on the material date he was engaged in carting a quantity of what was described as "Omaya Whiting” delivered by the Cargo Hauling Company. This article was made up in bales and the practice was to arrange them in rows on the lorry.
The first appellant was the tally clerk employed by the said Cargo Hauling Company, and it was his duty to check the quantities of goods loaded on the trucks carting the goods delivered by his company and to issue way-bills to cover the quantities loaded. These way-bills had to be presented at the appropriate control point on the journey out of the Tema Harbour where the officer in charge of the control point would check the quantity of goods on the truck against the quantity stated on the way-bill. Any discrepancy found would give rise to suspicion which would call for an immediate investigation.
On the material date the second appellant, the driver, was expected to have loaded on his truck 420 bales arranged in six rows of 70 bales each. For some reason which he could not account for the quantity loaded was 360 bales made up of six rows of 60 bales each. His case was that as he expected each row to contain 70 bales he only counted the number of rows and having satisfied himself that there were six rows he concluded he had the correct quantity so his truck. He nevertheless signed a way-bill showing the quantity to be 360 bales. He said he was illiterate, but could write his name, and no evidence was given to rebut the fact of his illiteracy; and he appended his signature to the way-bill in the knowledge that there were 420 bales on his truck.
The first appellant who issued the way-bill said he actually counted 360 bales on the truck and issued his way-bill accordingly. He might have made a mistake in the counting, for he said he was engaged that day in supervising the loading of two trucks by about ten labourers, and his divided attention might have accounted for his miscalculation in respect of the bales of the “Omaya Whiting”. Whatever his reasons might have been for the miscalculation he did issue an extra way-bill to
