Anthony George Boulos V. The Queen (1954)

LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West Africa Court of Appeal

Criminal Law and Procedure—Criminal Code, section 430 (1)—Possession—Goods suspected to be raw gold—Explanation raising suspicion goods stolen or unlawfully obtained.

Facts

The appellant was found carrying a parcel of ash-trays which the police suspected to be of raw gold. Asked about them, he said he had bought them for £500 but would not say from whom. Later, after charge and caution, he said that they had been given him by a white man whose identity and address he did not know.

He was prosecuted under section 430 (1) of the Criminal Code for having in his possession a number of alloyed gold ash-trays reasonably suspected of having been unlawfully obtained. They had a high gold content and were worth about £1,800. He did not give evidence at his trial.

In the appeal from conviction it was argued for him that since the suspicion was that the parcel contained raw gold, which was not the case, and at the time the appellant was accosted by the police that was the only suspicion, he ought to have been acquitted.

Held

The initial suspicion of the police turned out to be wrong, but the appellant’s explanations created a reasonable suspicion in the minds of the police that the ash-trays had been unlawfully obtained; he made no attempt to satisfy the Court that he had come by them lawfully; consequently the inference that he was guilty of an offence under section 430 (1) of the Criminal Code was justified.

Appeal dismissed.