Rex V. Abontendomhene Asare Apietu & Ors (1945)

LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West African Court of Appeal

Murder—Trial Judge’s record of summing-up attacked as incorrect in various particulars—Application to call shorthand writer and Chief Registrar as witnesses—Permission to Appellants to file affidavits and additional grounds of Appeal—Unusual latitude given to Appellants unlikely as precedent to be followed in future—Non-direction—Duty of a Judge to record anything whatsoever, taking place on a visit to locus in quo and having any bearing on the case—Misdirection–Production of corpus delicti is a vital matter only where evidence is purely circumstantial.

Facts

In this case the eight Appellants are appealing against their convictions for murder by a Judge sitting with a special jury.

Held

At the outset of the Appeal it was contended on behalf of the Appellants supported by an affidavit that the record of the summing-up of the trial Judge was incorrect in various particulars and an application was made to call a shorthand writer who had been present during the Judge’s summing-up and who, at the request of the Judge, had attempted to record the summing-up in shorthand.

Appeals of all the Appellants dismissed.