The Republic v Appiah (CC2/009/2024) [2025] GHAHC 205 (3 June 2025)

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF JUDICATURE, IN THE HIGH COURTOF JUSTICE, COMMERCIAL DIVISION “B” (GENERAL JURISDICTION) HELD AT SUNYANI ON TUESDAY THE 3RD DAY OF JUNE, 2025 BEFORE HER LADYSHIP JUSTICE JOYCE BOAHEN, HIGH COURTJUDGE SUITNO. CC2/009/2024 THEREPUBLIC V ENOCHAPPIAH SENTENCING–ATTEMPTTOCOMMIT MURDER The accused person was arraigned in this Court on 5th November, 2024 on a charge of Attempt tocommit murdercontrary toSection 48ofthe Criminal OffencesAct, 1960Act 29.The particularsofoffence areasfollows; ENOCH APPIAH; ELECTRICIAN AGED 30 YEARS: On or about 15th September 2022, at Duayaw Nkwanta in the Ahafo Region, you attempted to intentionally cause the death of 2 CO RUTH BUADUWAAaged twenty three (23) years by stabbing her with a knife, anunlawful harm Section 48ofthe Criminal Offences Act, 1960(Act 29)provides that; Aperson whoattempts to commitmurder commitsa firstdegreefelony. 1 Section 296 (1) of the Criminal and other offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30) provides that; 296.Generalrules forpunishment (1) Where a criminal offence is declared by an enactment to be a first degree felony and the punishment for that offence is not specified, a person convicted of that offence is liable to imprisonmentforlife or any lesserterm. On the 13th day of May 2025 when the charge was read and interpreted to the accused person in Twi language in the presence of his Counsel and in consultation with his Counsel, the accused person pleaded Guilty simpliciter to the offence. This Court accordingly convicted the accused person on his own plea to the offence and deferred sentence to today. PRE –SENTENCEHEARING Counselfor the Accused person At the pre - sentence hearing Counsel for the accused person intimated to the Courtthat the accused person having pleaded guilty simpliciter to the offence has saved the Court’s time, and human resource to conduct a full trial of this matter. The accused person has also saved the state financial and human resources which trial involves the 2 jury system where the seven members ofthe jury are paid daily. Counsel submitted that the accused person is a first time offender who has come into conflict with the law. It is Counsel’s contention that the demeanour of the accused person shows his remorse for which reason Counsel prays for him to be dealt with leniently. The prayer of Counsel is for the Court to show mercy to the accused person although Counsel is not in favour of the accused person’s belief that the victim belongs to him. The Court may also consider the fact that the victim did not die. Counsel therefore prayed that taking all the above intoconsideration the Courtmay impose alenient sentence onthe accused person. Counsel noted that if murder had been completed the sentence would have been life imprisonment not death.Another submission of Counsel is that the Court may consider that the accused person was arrested in the year 2022. He was then thirty (30) years old and he is currently thirty three (33) years old. Counsel prayed to the Court to consider the dictum of Justice Dotse JSC as he then was in the case of The Republic v. Frimpong alias Iboman that when it comes to sentencing the Court should consider the age of an accused person since a long sentence will not serve any useful purpose. It is Counsel’s prayer to the Court that while the Court considers justice to be done to the victim and the people of Ghana, the Court may also consider the accused person who has been in lawful custody for almost three years since he was arrested. Counsel humbly prayed the Court to sentence the accused person to twelve years imprisonment less the time the accused personhad already spent in custody which would be 9yearsfromtoday. 3 Counselfor the Republic Counsel for the Republic agreed that upon pleading guilty simpliciter, the accused person has saved prosecution, the Court, the accused person and his Counsel the cost of going through a full dress trial. She submitted that notwithstanding the abovethe Court may consider the fact that the accused personcommitted averyserious offence. Forthat matter his sentence should be commensurate with the offence. Counsel however proposed a sentence of twelve years imprisonment to be imposed on the accused person with effectfrom today. BYCOURT; The Court has perused the entire docket and the Court takes notice that the accused person committed the offence on 15th September, 2022 and went into hiding after that. The Court takes further notice that per the facts the accused person stabbed the victim several times in the stomach and other parts of her body. The medical report of the victim dated 15th September, 2022 confirmed two lacerations on the abdomen of the victim about 6cm in depth and one penetrating wound on her leg. These injuries were further confirmed with a photograph of the victim attached by prosecution lying on a stretcher at the hospital. The facts indicate that after stabbing the victim the accused person abandoned her and went into hiding until he was found three months later and 4 he was arrested. Fortunately, the victim survived upon the swift intervention of the personswho rescued herand thedoctors. It is very disturbing that the accused person was of the view that the victim belongs to him such that he could not accept the fact that the victim broke up with him which led to the commission of the offence. It is useful to take notice that there was an earlier misunderstanding between the accused person and the victim where the accused person caused damage to the victim’s windows and the matter was settled by the superior of the victim. The facts establish that the victim and the accused person were lovers, which implies that they were merely in concubinage. Therefore, the accused person has not performed any customary or other rites indicating that he had married the victim. The accused personand the victim havebeen lovers forone andhalf years.It is important to note that there is no justification for any man to take the law into his own hands to cause harm to his lover because he could not accept the fact that his lover brokeupwithhim. Even when a man performs customary rites for the hands of a woman in marriage or marries a woman under the Marriage Ordinance that does not mean that the man owns the woman so he could do whatever he likes to the woman including an attempt to kill the woman. The Court is convinced that upon his arrest in the year 2022 and having been in lawful custody since then, the accused person has already learnt a bitter lesson and wished he could turn back the hands of time but that is not possible. His remorse is 5 strongly exhibited by his early guilty plea and his demeanour in Court speaks volumes about his profuse remorse for his actions. This should be a great lesson to up and coming young men in similar relationships to be very cautious in how they deal with women in their lives. The Court has heard Counsel for the accused person’s prayer to deal leniently with the accused person. The Court takes notice of the submission of Counsel for the accused person and the Republic about the human and financial resources that the accused person’s guilty plea has saved the Court, the state, the accused personand his lawyerwhich the Courtwould not overemphasize. The enormity of the offence, attempt to commit murder being a first degree felony has been given due consideration by the Court. Sections 48 of Act 29 and 296 (1) of Act 30 quoted above gives the Court a discretion to impose imprisonment for life or any lesser term. In the case of Frimpong alias Iboman v. the Republic [2012] 1 Supreme Court of Ghana Law Report (SCGLR) 297 at 304 where an appellant was sentenced to 65 years imprisonment by the trial Court for conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery, a first degreefelony,the Courtheld inholding (9)asfollows; It appearedthat the sentence of 65years imprisonmentimposed on the appellant for the offenceof robbery was punitive enough and ought to deter others who were right –thinking; and that such long sentence would appease society and safeguard them from criminal conduct. However, in the view of the Supreme Court, for such sentences to be really deterrent to others, a different approach must be adopted to the imposition of sentences. The Court would therefore advocate a 6 scheme of sentence where the length of the sentence, whilst being commensurate to an extent with the gravity of the crime and revulsion which law abiding citizens felt towards the crime, would be such that, the peers would have an opportunity to observe the life of the convict after his releaseand hopefully be deterred fromcommittingcrimes. In holding (11) the Supreme Court took into consideration article 14 (6) of the 1992 Constitution which obliges it to take into consideration the period spent by the convict in lawful custody before imposing a term of imprisonment which the trial Court and the Court ofAppeal did not take into consideration. TheAppellant had spent four years in prison and upon taking that into consideration the Court substituted a sentence of 30 years on each count to run concurrently instead of 65 years in respect of conspiracy and robbery. In the light of the above, the Court is of a fervent conviction that a sentence of eleven years imprisonment is appropriate and reasonable considering the whole circumstances of the case as discussed above. For the foregoing reasons and having taken into consideration that upon his arrest in November 2022 to date, the accused person has been in lawful custody of about two years and seven months, the Court hereby sentences the accused person to eleven years imprisonment in hard labour with effect fromtodaythe 3rdday ofJune 2025. 7 The Court further orders the accused person to pay compensation of Six Thousand Ghana Cedis to the victim in accordance with section 148 (1), (2) and (3) and 149 of the Criminal andOther Offences(Procedure) Act, 1960(Act30) 148.Offender to make compensation (1) A person who is convicted of felony or misdemeanour may be ordered by the Court to make compensation toany other person injuredby that offence. (2) A person who is convicted of an offence on summary conviction may be ordered by the Court to make compensation, not exceeding an amount of money equivalent to five hundred penalty units,to any other person injuredby that offence. (3)The compensation may be in addition to or in substitutionfor any other punishment. 149.Effect ofpayment ofcompensation Where a personwho isinjured by an offencereceivescompensation for the injury underthe order of the Court, the receipt of compensation shall be taken into account in assessing damages in a civilaction for the same injury. It is instructive to note that this award of compensation to the victim does not prevent the victim from pursuing a civil action against the accused person for compensation. 8 However, as indicated above, in assessing compensation to be awarded to the victim in acivilaction, theCourtwould takethe aboveaward ofGhs 6,000.00into consideration. (SGD) JUSTICEJOYCE BOAHEN HIGHCOURTJUDGE 3RDJUNE 2025 9