REX
V.
KOFI MANSU

 Harragin, C.J. There is only one point of substance in the grounds of appeal filed in this case. It reads as follows:-

“The learned trial Judge misdirected the jury by stressing the fact that the defendant pleaded guilty at the beginning of the trial when he had not the benefit of Counsel’s advice.”

The facts are that, when the appellant was charged with the offence of murder, he pleaded guilty, but the Court very properly ordered a plea of not guilty to be entered and the case to be tried on this plea. If this had been all that had happened, no fault could have been found with the procedure, but unfortunately in the very sketchy notes of the trial Judge’s summing-up, it is clear that the jury were invited to consider this plea of guilty when applying the law to the facts of the case. This reference was irregular. In so far as the jury were concerned, the plea was that of not guilty, and it may well have been that they were not even in Court when the appellant pleaded guilty. The fact …