REPUBLIC v. KWAMI AND OTHERS PRACTICE NOTE

Francois J, sitting on appeal, addressed a narrow procedural question arising from a criminal trial before a magistrate. The magistrate halted the hearing and entered an acquittal because he concluded that conflicts in the prosecutions evidence were so substantial that no conviction could follow, even though the prosecution had not closed its case. On appeal, counsel for the State argued that at that interlocutory stage the magistrates powers were limited to dismissing or discharging the charge, not to entering a final acquittal, and that any acquittal could only be pronounced at the close of the prosecutions case. Relying on paragraph 85(2) of the Courts Decree, 1966 (N.L.C.D. 84) and section 59(1)(b)(ii) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1960 (Act 30), the court agreed, allowed the States appeal, and emphasised that the magistrates error was technical rather than merits-based. The State Attorney undertook that the accused would not face further police molestation.