BRETT, F.J. (Delivering the Judgment of the Court): The appellant, who is a legal practitioner, was convicted in the High Court of the Eastern Region on three counts charging him with forgery, uttering and obtaining by false pretences.
The evidence for the prosecution established that on the 26th May, 1960, the appellant appeared in the Magistrate’s Court, Aba, for one L.L. Akande, and on his behalf accepted an offer of £100 in full and final settlement of a claim under the Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance. The money had been paid into Court and the order of the Court was that it should be paid to Akande. Akande asked the appellant if he could draw his money the same day, and the appellant told him to go away and wait for the Court to write to him. Five days later, as he had not heard from the Court, Akande went to see the appellant and received the same answer, and after another three days he saw the appellant again and was told to come back in the evening. When he went back in the …