Rex V. Kofie Boateng Alias Ebenezer Alfred Boateng (1941)

LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West African Court of Appeal

Charge of burglary and stealing from dwelling house—Acquitted thereof but convicted of receiving items not proved to be proceeds of the burglary.

Held : Sentence too severe, sentence quashed and lesser sentence s ti bsti tubed .

There is no need to set out the facts.

A. Ridehalgh for Crown.

Appellant not present.

The following joint judgment was delivered :—

KINGDON, C.J., NIGERIA, PETRIDES, C.J., GOLD COAST, GRAHAM PAUL, C.J., SIERRA LEONE.

In this case the appellant was charged with burglary and stealing from a dwelling house. He was acquitted on those charges but convicted of receiving a bottle of whisky and a tin of sardines knowing them to have been stolen. But the whisky and the sardines were not proved to be the proceeds of the burglary. That being so the sentence of two years imprisonment hard labour passed by the learned trial Judge appears to us to be excessive.

The appeal is allowed, the sentence passed at the trial is quashed and in substitution therefore the appellant is sentenced to six months imprisonment hard labour to run from the 11th December, 1940, provided that the time during which the appellant las, pending the determination of his appeal, been specially treated as an appellant shall not count as part of the said term of imprisonment.