YIRENKYI v. THE STATE

JUDGMENT OF AKUFO-ADDO J.S.C.

Akufo-Addo J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant was convicted before Acolatse J. in the High Court, Accra, on the 13th March, 1962, of the murder of a woman—named Afua Ayeley. The case for the prosecution was that the appellant was married, apparently [p.68] under customary law, to the said Afua Ayeley, that differences arose between the appellant and Ayeley, differences attended by the usual quarrels between man and wife, and which ultimately culminated in the marriage being dissolved in accordance with customary law in the presence of the Chief of Nsawam, where the couple lived. The dissolution of the marriage took place on Saturday, the 10th February, 1962. On the morning of Monday, the 12th February, 1962, at about 7 o'clock, the deceased Ayeley and her sister Korkor were on their way from Djankrom, a district of Nsawam, to the Nsawam market in the centre of Nsawam, when they met the appellant. According to the prosecution, as per the evidence of Korkor, the appellant, on meeting the two sisters on the road, told the deceased that he had removed all his belongings from their matrimonial home but that he had left the deceased's pillow in that house and requested the deceased to go and collect it. The appellant then added that he was going away from Nsawam and on his return back to Nsawam he (the appellant) would seek "a settlement between them." The deceased replied that there was nothing between them that called for a settlement. Thereupon the appellant pulled out a cutlass from under his cloth and with it struck the deceased at the back of her neck. The deceased fell down unconscious, whereupon the appellant threw down the cutlass and ran away dropping his sandals in the process. Korkor raised an alarm and a man, Kwabena Budu, who said he saw the attack on the deceased by the appellant, gave chase but was unable to catch up with the appellant who disappeared. The deceased was later removed to the hospital where she regained consciousness for a brief period, and died a few hours later. During the short period of her consciousness, and about ten minutes before she died, she made a statement to the police which was essentially the same version of the incident as given by her sister Korkor, the important point being her certainty as to the identity of her assailant.

At the trial, the appellant denied the charge and set up a defence of alibi, notice whereof he duly gave in accordance with the requireme