JUDGMENT
There are two aspects of the trial in this serious matter that render the trial defective and it is not surprising that the learned Counsel for the respondent has conceded the appeal.
The first matter is that after the conclusion of submissions by Counsel at the trial, the two assessors who were present that day retired to deliberate on their verdict, without the learned judge having summed up to them. They returned about an hour later and expressed their opinion that the appellant was guilty as charged of the offence of murder. The learned judge reserved judgment which was delivered a month and a half later and in which the appellant was found guilty of murder. Section 322(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code provides as follows:-
“When, in a case tried with assessors the case on both sides is closed, the judge may sum up the evidence for the prosecution and the defence and shall then require each assessor to relate his opinion orally, and shall read that opinion.”
The words of the…