OKINE V. THE REPUBLIC

ARCHER J.A.: Throughout the ages the calm and breezy dawn has gained notoriety as the most ideal time for launching successful military invasions and in contemporary times for staging coups d’etat. The dawn has always been used by many Ghanaians for out-dooring and naming their newly born babies amid the fanfare provided by the crows of the cock. Unfortunately, this same dawn has an unenviable reputation as the most opportune time, when some men, bereft of their bearings, have aroused their paramours from their peaceful slumber and have battered them to death. One such tragedy is the prosecution’s story in this appeal.

On 10 June 1973, at 4.30 in the morning on the Christian Sabbath when non-hypocritical Christians were reminding themselves of the ten commandments, the appellant, Emmanuel Joe Okine, affectionately called “Brother Joe” by those close to him, knocked at the window of the bedroom of his wife, Georgina Akrong, at Sabon Zongo, Accra. His wife inquired who it was and the ap…