Rex V. Emmanuel Kwami Borson (1941)
LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West African Court of Appeal
Conviction for Perjury contra. section 3-59 of the Criminal (ode—Appellant made false sworn statement before public officer—Statutory Declarations Act 183.5 prohibits a ” voluntary oath ” —Appellant’s statement was not taken as the result of any judicial enquiry or for the prosecution of any offence vide section 13 of the Act—.1t was a ” voluntary oath “.
Held : Administration of the oath 133- the public officer and the swearing of the oath by to appellant were unlawful acts and hence the so-called oath was no oath at all, Appeal allowed; conviction and sentence quashed and a judgment and verdict of acquittal entered.
W. H. Irwin for Crown.
K. A. Bossman (with him E. A. .Bannerman.) for Appellant. The following joint judgment was delivered :1-.-
KINGDON, C. J., NIGERIA, PETRIDES, C. J., GOLD COAST, AND STROTHER-STEWART, J.
In this ease the Appellant was convicted by Bannerman, J. sitting without a jury or assessors at the Accra Assizes of the offence of perjury contra. section 359 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 9 months Imprisonment with hard labour.
The particulars given of the alleged offence were as follows :—
” Emmanuel Kwami Borson on the 16th day of July, 1931, at ” Akuse in the Volta River District in the Eastern Province in a ” written statement made by him upon oath before Austin Cathie ” public officer stated that he acquired the piece of land upon which ” the building is situated by ancestral and customary allocation and ” that the building thereon was erected by him without the •aid of any ” member of his family which statement he knew to be false or which
he had not reason to believe to be true.”
In view of the wide wording of the definition of Perjury given in section 386 of the Criminal Code as follows :—
” A person is guilty of perjury if, in any written or verbal ” statement made or verified by him upon oath before any ” Court, or public officer, he states anything which he knows ” to be false, or which he has not reason to believe to be true “,⅗
Held : Administration of the oath 133- the public officer and the swearing of the oath by the appellant were unlawful acts and hence the so-called oath was no oath at all, Appeal allowed; conviction and sentence quashed and a judgment and verdict of acquittal entered.
W. H. Irwin for Crown.
K. A. Bossman (with him E. A. .Bannerman.) for Appellant. The following joint judgment was delivered :1-.-
KINGDON, C. J., NIGERIA, PETRIDES, C. J., GOLD COAST, AND STROTHER-STEWART, J.
In this ease the Appellant was convicted by Bannerman, J. sitting without a jury or assessors at the Accra Assizes of the offence of perjury contra. section 359 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 9 months Imprisonment with hard labour.
The particulars given of the alleged offence were as follows :—
” Emmanuel Kwami Borson on the 16th day of July, 1931, at ” Akuse in the Volta River District in the Eastern Province in a ” written statement made by him upon oath before Austin Cathie ” public officer stated that he acquired the piece of land upon which ” the building is situated by ancestral and customary allocation and ” that the building thereon was erected by him without the •aid of any ” member of his family which statement he knew to be false or which
he had not reason to believe to be true.”
In view of the wide wording of the definition of Perjury given in section 386 of the Criminal Code as follows :—
” A person is guilty of perjury if, in any written or verbal ” statement made or verified by him upon oath before any ” Court, or public officer, he states anything which he knows ” to be false, or which he has not reason to believe to be true “,
