REPUBLIC v. CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE, TAMALE; EX PARTE VOLTA, SENIOR GAME WARDEN (No. 2)

JUDGMENT OF AMUA-SEKYI J.A.

The respondent, Charles Tieye Zieche, was charged before the Circuit Court, Tamale with offences under the Wildlife [p.380] Reserves Regulations, 1971 (L.I. 710), reg. 5. He was acquitted and discharged. A rifle and other equipment seized from him by the appellant, Bernard Volta, Senior Game Warden, Mole National Park, Damongo were ordered to be restored to him. The question then arose as to whether the power conferred on the trial judge by section 145 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1960 (Act 30) overrides the provisions of regulation 3 (2) of L.I. 710 under which the officers of the Mole National Park, Damango seized the rifle.

The provisions of section 145 of Act 30 which are well-known, provide:

"145. Where, upon the apprehension of a person charged with an offence, any property is taken from him, the Court before which he is discharged may order that the property or a part thereof be restored to the person who appears to the Court to be entitled thereto, and, if he be the person charged, that it be restored either to him or to such other person as the Court may direct, or that it be applied to the payment of any costs or compensation directed to be paid by the person charged."

They give the court before which a person is charged power to order that property taken from him on his arrest be restored to him. However, regulation 3 (2) of L.I. 710 provides as follows:

"(2) A Game Officer may seize and confiscate any equipment or apparatus brought into a Reserve which is in the opinion of the Game Officer capable of being used to hunt, capture or destroy any animal, and such equipment or apparatus may be disposed of in such manner as the Chief Game and Wildlife Officer thinks fit."

The discretionary power given to the game officer and the Chief Game and Wildlife Officer is a very wide one. So long as they act in good faith, the exercise of their discretion cannot be questioned.

Counsel for the respondent has drawn our attention to section 1 of Act 30 and to the earlier decision of this court in Republic v. Circuit Court Judge; Ex parte Volta, Senior Game Warden [1984-86] 1 G.L.R. 367, C.A. which was between the same parties. Section 1 of Act 30 provides:

“1. All offences under the Criminal Code and, subject to the provisions of any enactment, all other offences shall be enquired into, tried and otherwise dealt with according to this Code."

Now, although the offence with which the respondent was charged is not an offe