Try asking the following...
Try asking the following...
March 3, 2023
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
The Appellant herein was convicted of the offence Stealing contrary to Section 124 of
the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and sentenced to eight (8) years IHL by the
Circuit Court, Sogakope, in the Volta Region, presided over by His Honour Isaac Addo,
Esq., This instant Appeal prays that the Appellant be acquitted and discharged. The
then Accused person now convict was charged with stealing. The brief facts are that the
Accused person sometime in 2019 is alleged to have stolen money from the company
Nanatel Akatsi branch he worked for as the Branch Manager. The brief facts are stated
on page 2 of the Record of Appeal. Based on the facts and the charge, the Appellant
pleaded not guilty to the offence and the case went through a plenary trial.
FACTS AS PRESENTED
Complainant Prince Henry Amenor is the Internal Auditor of Nanatel Ltd., sole
distributors of M.T.N. products. Accused Isaac Boadi was the Manager of the named
company at Akatsi Branch who assumed post barely six (6) months ago. On 5/12/2018,
Accused’s books and records were audited and it was detected that he embezzled cash
the sum of GH¢234,555.95 being sales he made to customers and payment made to him.
He was subsequently handed over to the Police. Accused admitted having
embezzled only GH¢54,385.00 out of the amount stated above. He was given the chance
to reconcile the figures with the Auditor and concluded that he has embezzled
GH¢234,555.95. Investigation revealed that Accused opened his personal merchant
number 0557966220 with the name ‘His Glory Enterprise’ and gave out to customers
whereby payment of sales were channeled into his personal account. It was also
detected that certain payments were made direct to his personal M.T.N mobile money
account number 0244422098 which he cashed out. After the reconciliation, Accused
admitted having embezzled the amount stated on the charge sheet and stated that he
used the money to play soccer bets and bought on-line vehicles at Tonaton.com. After
investigations he was charged and put before you.
GROUNDS OF APPEAL
1. Grounds
(a) His Lordship should have given weight to mitigation of sentence and the fact
that the appellant was a young offender and that was his first brush with the law
and given him lesser sentence and that occasioned a miscarriage of justice.
(b) Judgment is not supported by the evidence on record
(c) External Auditors report not mentioning any loss of money as against that of the
Internal Auditor
AI Generated Summary
This High Court criminal appeal concerns Isaac Boadi, branch manager of Nanatel Ltd’s Akatsi office, convicted by the Circuit Court, Sogakope, of stealing and sentenced to eight years imprisonment in hard labour. Internal Auditor Prince Henry Amenor reported alleged embezzlement of GH¢234,555.95, supported by records showing customer payments routed to a merchant SIM registered as “His Glory Enterprise” and to Boadi’s personal MTN number. The prosecution cited customer witnesses and audit trails; Boadi admitted GH¢54,385 and explained under pressure he assumed responsibility as manager, pointing to an external auditor’s report showing no loss and asserting he was not confessing to theft. On rehearing, the High Court held that doubts were insufficient to overturn the conviction but accepted sentencing grounds, emphasizing first‑time offender considerations and Kwashie principles. The court reduced the sentence to 18 months IHL, affirming the conviction while moderating punishment.