JONATHAN

R. v. Wilson (1971) HCD 434

Crim. Sess 201-D-70; 27/10/71; Jonathan Ag. J.

The accused and the complainant lived together in concubinage for the whole or greater part of 1969. They agreed that eventually hey would marry under Islamic rites but never id because of constant quarrels. The complainant eventually left him and returned to her parents but he however visited her from time to time. He was denied entry to her house one night at 9 p. m. At about 4 a. m. the following morning he gained access to her room through a window made of reeds which he cut away. He shot her with an arrow and she sustained a wound one inch deep and ¼ inch wide in the upper part of the chest. He was charged of an act intended to cause grievous harm c/s 222 (2) of the Penal Code and of burglary c/s 294(1)  

            Held: 

(1) “It remains ………. To consider if in doing the act the accused intended to cause grievous harm in terms of section 222(2) of the Penal Code. Both the assessors say he so intended. I respectfully agree. Having regard to the time when he forced his way in, the nature of the weapon used and the part of the body struck albeit it may have been in the dark, I find it impossible to say that his intention was other than to cause grievous harm to her. That he should have fired a second arrow, the only other he had, would seem to me to confirm there was such intention.” 

(2) “So far as concerns the count of burglary, I agree completely with the assessors that he broke into the house. Judges by the subsequent events inside the  house for which we have found guilty of act intended to cause grievous harm, his act of breaking in cannot but have been intended to commit a felony. Accordingly, for this offence also he is guilty. 

(3) Accused convicted and sentenced.