OWUSU-ANSAH V. THE STATE

BRUCE-LYLE J.S.C.

This is an appeal from the judgment of Djabanor J. sitting with assessors at the Criminal Session of the High Court, Kumasi, delivered on 28 June 1963.

The appellant was charged with three others with conspiracy to steal and he alone with 44 counts of stealing 108 logs of various species, the property of his employers Messrs. F.E. Ghassoub (Ghana) Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as complainants).

The case for the prosecution was briefly that the appellant was employed as the timber truck driver of the complainants on the various dates mentioned in the 44 counts and that on these dates his truck was loaded with logs in the bush in the Hwidiem area. There was a loading clerk at Hwidiem whose duties included preparation of waybills, in original and duplicate, covering the logs entrusted to the appellant. The original waybill was handed to the appellant and the duplicate was kept by the clerk. It is significant that these waybills were not signed or thumb-printed by the appe…