TORTO v. THE REPUBLIC

The Ghana Court of Appeal, per Apaloo J.A. delivering the judgment of the court and sitting with Jiagge and Sowah JJ.A, reviewed the conviction of an unnamed appellant for the manslaughter of Joseph Benjamin Ofosu Koranteng following a late-night confrontation near the Ayee Moko Sane bar on 28 February 1970. The trial before Koi Larbi J.S.C. and a jury resulted in a seven-year sentence. The prosecution’s narrative, accepted by the jury, was that after the appellant threw a bottle and stones, the deceased chased him; the appellant retreated into the bar’s yard, returned with a knife, and stabbed the left chest of the deceased, who died shortly after at the Military Hospital. Grounds of appeal included the trial judge’s refusal to withdraw the case under section 271 of Act 30, alleged lack of nexus and causation absent medical evidence, and a claim of necessary self-defence under section 37 of Act 29. The Court held the circumstantial evidence cogent, found medical proof non-essential, rejected self-defence, affirmed the conviction, and reduced the sentence to four years given the appellant’s youth and first-offender status.