The appellant was convicted by the Court below of murder, contrary to section 209 of the
Penal Code and sentenced to suffer death. He appeals to this Court against both
conviction and sentence. The case basically turned on the credibility of the witnesses.
The deceased was the appellant’s mother in-law. The appellant’s marriage to the
deceased’s daughter, PW1, was, however, on the rocks at the material time and the two
were living apart.
The prosecutions’s case was that on the relevant day, the appellant came to his estranged
wife’s home and picked a quarrel with her and attacked her. A neighbour, PW4, came
and remonstrated with the appellant. He left, only to come back with a slasher knife. It
was the prosecution’s case further that the deceased came to find out what was wrong,
when the appellant struck her in the head with the knife, causing serious injury, from
which she died several days later. A total of six witnesses gave evidence for the
prosecution, including the appellant’s wife and her two sisters, PW2 and PW3, who said
that they actually were present when all this happened