STATE V. TABBEY

MILLS-ODOI J.S.C.: Mills-Odoi J.S.C. delivered the reasons for the judgment of the court. The court has already given its opinion on the matters raised in the case stated by the circuit court judge at Cape Coast, and we now give our reasons. This case concerns the fourth accused, A. B. Tabbey, who will hereafter be referred to as the respondent.

The respondent and the other four accused were arraigned before the Circuit Court, Cape Coast, on charges of conspiracy to steal and stealing the sum of £G2,326 or ¢5,582.40, the property of one Alhaji Jaji. During the course of the trial a fierce controversy arose over the question of admissibility of a statement which the respondent made to the police on 15 October 1965 when the case was under investigation and when he had not been suspected of any complicity in the crime. It was an ordinary statement made by him, not on caution, as the police intended at that time to treat him as a witness for the prosecution.

The circumstances which led to t…