The Republic v Fosu (BON/SYN/HC/42/007/2025) [2025] GHAHC 203 (4 June 2025)

INTHE SUPERIOR COURTOFJUDICATURE HIGHCOURTOFJUSTICEHELD AT SUNYANI ONWEDNESDAY THE 4TH DAY OFJUNE, 2025BEFORE HISLORDSHIP JUSTICENATHANP. YARNEY ESQ. SUITNO.BON/SYN/HC/42/007/2025 REPUBLIC V. FOSUKWABENAEMMANUEL … ACCUSEDPERSON JUDGMENT On 28th May, 2025, the Court was informed that negotiations between the Prosecution and the Accused person on a plea deal had been successful. By the resulting deal, the, Accused, who had pleaded Not Guilty to the charge of Murder contrary to S. 46 of the Criminal and Other OffencesAct, 1960,Act 29, had agreed to plead guilty to the offence ofManslaughter contraryto S.50ofAct29. The Accused person has heard the charges read out, and he has duly pleaded Guilty to thecharge ofManslaughter.He hasaccordingly beenconvicted onhisown plea. Kwaku Agyeman Badu Jr., lawyer for the Accused Person has addressed the Court in mitigation. He says that the Accused person is not known but finds himself in this situation only because of an amorous relationship gone wrong. He says that the Court should take into consideration where the act causing the death happened, and the circumstances leading to that. He says that theAccused person did not go pursuing the deceased, but was on his poultry farm where the deceased and his sister approached him in circumstances that led to the flaring of tempers, and unfortunately, into a physical altercation; the deceased and his sister against the Accused person. But for their approach to the Accused person in his poultry farm, the incident leading to the death would not have occurred. Thus, by the comments of the lawyer for the Accused, when all these circumstances are considered, in addition to the fact of the accused being otherwise law-abiding and gainfully employed, and also having by the plea bargain saved the Court from a prolonged trial and the man-hours to be spent, he prays that the Courtacts measuredly in thedecree ofits sentence. Vivian Yayra Nti Boadu (SA) for the Republic in her reply also mentioned that the circumstances of this case, particularly the absence of calculated premeditation on the part of the Accused person is what caused the Prosecution to be amenable to a plea bargain. She however,left sentencing tothe discretionofthe Court. Aman is dead. He is said to have engaged in a physical fight with the Accused, and in that situation was stabbed by the accused person. This episode occurred in a poultry farm owned by the Accused person, and where he was working on the fateful day. The deceased, brother of the Accused person’s former girlfriend, found himself there in the company of his sister, as a result of an altercation between the Accused person and the sister of the deceased, Dora Tuffour. So, the milieu is one of an emotionally charged kind, involving a couple in the process of breaking up a relationship, with one supported by her brother, seeking to say some words. These words degenerated into violence. The violence led to a death. So, a relationship surely died, but a man also died asaresult. The Accused Person, with his plea of guilty to the charge of Manslaughter, is to a reasonable degree admitting some responsibility for the resulting death. Obviously, he qualifies this responsibility with the assertion that he did not intend to cause it. At this stage the court, taking into consideration all circumstances appearing on the face of the documents discovered, as well as taking into consideration the fact that a prolonged trial is to be avoided by the resulting change of charge and plea, will further rely on the guidance addressed in the cases of Apaloo vs. Republic [1975] 1 GLR 156, Kwashie vs. Republic [1971] 1 GLR 488; and Ignatius Howe vs. Republic; Criminal Appeal No. J3/3/2013 – Judgment dated 22nd May, 2014 in its sentencing decision, and having done so, this Courtsentences theAccused personto6yearsimprisonment. [SGD] NATHANP.YARNEY JUSTICEOFTHE HIGH COURT