LAWSON v. THE REPUBLIC
May 12, 1976
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- TAYLOR J
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence Law
May 12, 1976
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
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JUDGMENT OF TAYLOR J.
The appellant in this case was arraigned before the circuit court on 21 October 1963 on a charge of dishonestly receiving contrary to section 146 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29). The particulars of offence are as follows:
"Emmanuel Lamptey Lawson, between January 1962 and August 1963 in Accra within the jurisdiction of this court dishonestly received from one Charles McClinton a quantity of National Development Bond Savings, stamps which you know had been obtained by a crime namely stealing."
The appellant was jointly charged with ten other persons. He was charged with receiving in the sixth count and the said Charles McClinton referred to in the particulars of offence was charged with stealing £G92 10s. worth of National Development Bond Savings stamps in count (5) and these are the stamps in respect of which it would seem from the evidence he was charged with receiving in the sixth count.
The other nine persons faced, inter alia, various charges in six counts of conspiracy, stealing and receiving varying quantities of National Development Bond Savings stamps. These counts had nothing whatsoever to do with the appellant and the stamps mentioned in these counts were in no way related to the stamps the subject-matter of the fifth and sixth counts.
On 27 April 1964, the appellant was convicted of the offence and he was sentenced to a term of three years' imprisonment with hard labour, the sentence to commence from 21 October 1963, the day he was arraigned. The grounds of appeal he filed are as follows:
“(1) That the prosecution failed to prove a case of receiving against me.
(2) That the trial judge misdirected his judgment and sentenced me to a severe term of three years' imprisonment with hard labour after the witnesses have failed to incriminate me."
Assuming that the conviction in this case is in order the sentence is in my view unlawful, for under section 315 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1960 (Act 30), a sentence of imprisonment shall commence on and include the whole of the day on which it is pronounced. The sentence in this case therefore ought to commence from 27 April 1964 and not 21 October 1963 as was ordered by the learned circuit court judge.
Be that as it may, this appeal has had a chequered history. It has been pending in the High Court since 4 May 1964 the date the appellant lodged his appeal. On 27 November 1975 the case came before me for summary hearing. I granted leave and with the consent of coun
AI Generated Summary
Taylor J. allowed Emmanuel Lamptey Lawson’s long-delayed criminal appeal from a 1964 conviction for dishonestly receiving National Development Bond Savings stamps. Police had found old NDBS stamps in Lawson’s office album and home, and a co-accused, Charles McClinton, wrote Lawson a letter referencing £G92 5s. But the prosecution led no evidence that the stamps were stolen and relied primarily on McClinton’s unsworn statement, later repudiated, which was tendered through an investigating officer. Taylor J. held that such a statement was inadmissible against Lawson, that no admissible evidence proved receiving, and that improper joinder with multiple unrelated counts and co-accused caused unfair prejudice. Although the charge particulars were defective, the court decided the case on the merits, quashing the conviction and setting aside the sentence.