VAN LARE AG. C.J.: We allowed this appeal at the last sitting, and now proceed to give our reasons. The appellant was convicted at the Magistrate’s Court, Kumasi, before Mr. Beckley, District Magistrate, upon a count charging him with the offence of stealing cash the sum of £45 10/-, the property of one Augustine Mensah ,contrary to section 287 (1) of the Criminal Code.
This count was bad for duplicity, for from the evidence at the trial there appear to have been allegations of two separate and distinct offences, and they have been charged in one count instead of being made the subject of two counts, as the law requires. It is very trite learning in criminal pleadings that no more than one offence may be charged in any one count. Section 108 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides as follows:
(His lordship read the section, and proceeded:—)
The cash alleged to have been stolen was made up of two separate and distinct sums, £G20 and £G25 10/- respectively, given to the appellant by the co…