2025
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Court of Appeal (panel of Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe JA, Prof. Olivia Anku-Tsede JA, and Jennifer Anne Myers Ahmed JA) heard Osman Inusah’s appeal from the High Court’s affirmance of his Circuit Court conviction for conspiracy to commit robbery and 15-year sentence, with acquittal on the robbery count. The court reviewed the record and found a decisive error of law: after a psychiatric report from Accra Psychiatric Hospital diagnosed schizophrenia, the trial court did not take sworn medical or other evidence as mandated by section 133(1) of Act 30 before deeming Inusah fit and proceeding. It held that mental fitness is jurisdictional; the failure to comply rendered the entire trial a nullity and occasioned a substantial miscarriage of justice. The court set aside the High Court’s judgment and the conviction and sentence, ordered a retrial before a different Circuit Court, directed that Inusah be brought to the Registrar within 14 days, and referred him to Accra Psychiatric Hospital pending retrial, emphasizing strict compliance with mental fitness procedures.
The facts as presented by the Prosecution are that; the Complainant Robert Kwame Gyawu-Kyem a mobile money merchant at Kokomlemle near City Lights was, at about 9:00 pm on 24th March 2018, checking his account for the day when his wife noticed Accused person, an Okada Rider, and four others, now at large, on two motorbikes monitoring them in the shop.
Upon Complainant's wife informing him about what she had noticed, they decided to leave the shop. Whilst Complainant was packing, his wife decided to stand in-front of the shop and saw the Accused person and four others hiding at the edge of a nearby building. She informed Complainant and he quickly carried the daily sales of GHS10,200.00, two iPhones valued GHS1,000.00 each, one Nokia C2 valued GHS200.00 and other personal effects in a leather bag. The wife also carried a plastic bag containing waste. The moment Complainant and the wife got to one of the shops close to theirs, one of the robbers suddenly rushed on them and held the leather bag in an attempt to snatch it, but Complainant resisted. According to the Prosecution, in the process of the struggle, the accomplices of the Accused rushed and joined Accused. One of them used a piece of cement block to hit Complainant and they took the leather bag.
Complainant's wife raised alarm and it drew the arrested and taken to Police hospital for treatment. The Accused was subsequently charged with the offence of conspiracy to commit crime, namely robbery and robbery contrary to sections 23(1) and 149 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and was put before the Circuit Court.
a. That the learned High Court judge erred in law by relying on the judgement of the learned Circuit Court judge which was made in excess of her jurisdiction for being per