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Criminal law and procedure –
Breach of peace – Ingredients –
Accused slapped twice without
provocation – Accused not
retaliating – Whether guilty of
conduct conducive to breach of
peace – Criminal Code 1960 (Act
29) s 298.
The 1st and 2nd accused persons
quarreled over some
misunderstanding and then
parted. Sometime later, without
further provocation, the 2nd
accused slapped the 1st accused
twice on the cheek. They were
tried in the district court of
the offence of doing acts
tending to disturb the peace in
a public place, contrary to
section 298 of the Criminal Code
1960 (Act 29) and convicted. The
1st accused appealed
successfully to the High Court.
The High Court judge found no
evidence on record that the
parties engaged in an
altercation of any sort and
allowed the appeal. The
prosecution appealed to the
Court of Appeal.
Held:
as the evidence on record
did not establish that the
respondent retaliated for the
unprovoked attack, the court
ought to have acquitted and
discharged the respondent at the
close of the case for the
prosecution. Besides, the
testimony of the respondent a
demonstrated even more that the
charge was baseless. The appeal
would therefore be dismissed.
APPEAL against the judgment of
the High Court to the Court of
Appeal.
Ansong
(Mrs), Chief State Attorney, for
the appellant.
Ahenkorah
for the respondent.
ESSIEM JA.
This is an appeal by the State
against the acquittal on appeal
of the respondent by the High
Court, Koforidua. The charge was
for doing acts tending to
disturb the peace in a public
place, contrary to section 298
of the Criminal Code 1960 (Act
29) and was sentenced to a fine
of ¢500 or 6 months imprisonment
after being found guilty.
It appears, from the record that
there was some misunderstanding
between the 1st accused, the
respondent herein, and the 2nd
accused, the complainant, and a
quarrel ensued between them.
They later parted company and
each went his own way. Sometime
afterwards, the 2nd accused,
without any provocation from the
respondent slapped him twice on
the cheek. The police effected
the arrest of the respondent and
his assailant sometime after
this assault. They were charged
with the offence, tried and
convicted by the District Court
Grade I, Kibi. The State
appealed to the High Court,
Koforidua.
In allowing the appeal the High
Court stated inter alia:
“There was no evidence to show
that the parties either
exchanged words at the scene or
engaged in any altercation of a
sort.”
With this finding I am in
complete agreement with the High
Court. I do not see how, if a
person is slapped twice under
the circumstance described
above, he can be said to have
done an act to disturb the
peace. The respondent did
nothing. The evidence on record
did not show that the respondent
retaliated. What happened was an
unprovoked attack on the
respondent and at the close of
the case of the prosecution, the
court ought to have acquitted
and discharged the respondent,
for in my view there was no
evidence in support of the
charge against him.
In my opinion the conviction of
the respondent was wrong as at
the close of the prosecutions
case there was no evidence led
to establish the particulars of
the charge and he should have
been acquitted and discharged at
that stage. When he was called
upon the evidence he gave in his
defence did not supply any
evidence upon which a court
could convict him for any
offence. Indeed it tended to
show more that there was no
basis for the charge.
I am of the opinion that the
High Court judge was right in
acquitting the respondent. I
shall therefore dismiss the
appeal.
KPEGAH JA.
I agree.
OFORI-BOATENG JA.
I also agree.
Appeal dismissed.
S Kwami Tetteh, Legal
Practitioner |
