BRETT, F.J. (Delivering the Judgment of the Court):
The appellant was tried in the Northern Region High Court on a charge of murder, and convicted. On the 27th October we allowed his appeal and we now state our reasons for doing so.
It is common ground that the deceased died of a stab wound in the chest inflicted on him by the appellant in the course of a struggle. There was a conflict of evidence as to how the fight started, but the evidence fully justified the learned Judge’s finding that it was the appellant who, after announcing his intention of beating the deceased, began the fight by striking the deceased with a stick. The deceased, who was unarmed, thereupon grappled with the appellant, threw him to the ground, and, according to the evidence for the defence, which the witnesses for the prosecution were not prepared to deny, put his hands round his throat. The appellant then drew a knife which he had in his pocket and gave the deceased the wound from which he died.
The dispute h…