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Busang v The State (Criminal Appeal No. 5 of 1981) [1981] BWCA 9 (4 December 1981)

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In the supporting affidavit filed by him, he allegec that he had been prosecuted for stock theft before a subcrdinate court of tribal authority at Bobonong village and h?d been acquitted. This he alleged occured in February, 1960. He further alleged that he was tried on the 16th April, 1980 before the Bamangwato Senior Customary Court fcr the same offence, but this time he was convicted. He scught •n Order from the High Court declaring the proceedlr^s of the 16th April, 1980 null and void, he based his application on Section 10(5) of the Constitution, which provides:
"No person who shows that he has been tried by a competent court for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted shall again be tried for that offence or for any other criminal offence of which he could have been convicted at the trial for that offence, save upon the order of a superior court in the course of appeal or review proceedings reLating to the conviction or acquittal."
It follows frorr. what I have said that his allegation was that this provision had been contravened and he sought redress in the High Court in terms of Section 18 of the Constitution.
HANNAH, J., before rfhom the matter came in -he High Court, thought that it was fundamental in an application such as the present that the record of proceedings before both Customary Courts should be p!Laced before the High Court. It appears that, despite letters
o

written by the Appellant's Attorney to the Clerk of the Customary Court, these records were not forthcoming. According to the Judgment of HANNAH, J. he enquired of the Appellant's attorney whether he wished to apply for an adjournment in order that the Court might direct the Customary Courts to produce their records, but the Appellant's attorney st ted ths-it he w*<s content to huve the matter disposed of on the basis of the evidence before the Court, HANNAH, J. pointod out thnt when the Appellant eppesred before the Bonmt'wp.to Senior Customary Court he did not tpke the point that he had previously been acquitted on the same charge. He, the appellant, stated that he thought the complainont in the cose was ent entitled to appeal and that the proceedings were ir\ the nature of an appeal. The learned Judge pointed out t^at whether the proceedings were in the nature of an appeal or not or for that matter whether an appeal against an acquittal could be made, had not been fully canvassed before him.
Having regard to the view that he Cormed of the application, he considered it unnecessary to consider this aspect further beyond remarking that h found it aurpriaing that the Appellant, who was himself a Praaldant of a Customary Court, could have been mistaken in thla way.
3

HANNAH, J. said that the question that he had to decide was whether the Appellant could for the first time raise the matter of his previous acquittal before the High Court. He referred to Section 149 (1) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which provides:-
"        that an accused served with a
copy of an indictment or suoumons may plead either:
a)       th*t he Is guilty of the offence charged;
b)       that he is not guilty;
c)       that he has already been convicted of the offence wirh which he is charged;
d)       that he hns already been ocquitted of the offence with which he is charged;
e)       that he has received a pardon for the offence charged;
f)       that the Court has no Jurisdiction to try him for the offence; or
g)       that the prosecutor has no title to prosecute,"
He pointed out that there is a long standing practice both under Roman-Dutch and Fngliah Common Law t.iot an accused wishing to avail himself of the de/e. oe of autrefois acquit or autrefois convict must raise it by a special plea and that once it is raised the Court must return a special verdict on the matter. He cane to the conclusion that the Appellant failed to do so in the Customary Court and that he was not entitled to raise the matter for the first time befor the High Court.
U

In ny Judgment, HANNAH, J. erred on this point. It has been held both in England and in South Africa, where the Roman-Dutch Law applies, that a plea of autrefois acquit or convict may be raised for the first time on appeal. In Flatnan v Light 1946 KB at 419 Lord Goddard C.J. statedt-
"In common justice and fairness, if during the course of a case it turned out that a man had been previously convicted or accmitted of the same offence with which he was then charged, the court would, of course, nllow hira to plead it and would give effect to that plea. When a case is before Justices I doubt very much whether it is right to S3y that a plea chat a man has been already acquitted or convicted of a previous offence is An *ny r.trictr.cr.s a plea of autrefois acquit or autrefois convict, because those pleos are pleas which have to be pleaded formally, because they form part of thr record of the court. They ought to be pleaded in writing :md then a replication is pleoded by the prosecution. When a case is being dealt with by a court of summary Jurisdiction I think it is true to say that what the court must do is to give effect to the naxim Nemo debet bis yexarl pro una et eadem causa. I do not think il is technically autrefois acquit, but that does not matter.
In this hyperlink we do not decide the case on any such ground that the plea of not guilty was standing, because it is obvious -t at if the Justices could propp;ly find that these men had been already acquitted of the offenr* or convicted of the offence they should have given effect to it at any stage cf the proceedings."
This case has been followed in South Africa In the case to which we were referred by Couhsel for the Attorney-Central, S. v Mgllane 1974 (4) SALR 3036
5

In England, in R v Tonics 1916 (D KB 443 it was specifically decided that a plea of autrefois could be properly raised for the first time on appeal. Ouite apart from the terms of the Constitution, it seems to mn that any Court, whether it be a Court of first instance or a Court of Appeal, "in common Justice and fairness", to use the words of Lord Goddard, C.J., if it emerges i\ the course of a case that a man had been previously convicted or acquitted of the 3ame offence with which he was then charged, not only could but would be oblige! to allow him to plead it ;ind give him every opportunity of giving effect to that plea* it is a matter of common experience that accused persons very often plead guilty but during the course of a case it appears to the Court thet the plea should hive been one of not guilty. In my experience the Courts hmve often permitted a change of plea ffom guilty to not guilty*
As was said by GIlKENBiSRO J. A. in Rex v Carr 19*9 U) SAfaR, 69? a,t 6?9?
"Although our criminal procadure partakes largely of the quality 'f litigation, the element of inves wig;ition In the intere. i... of justice is by no renns absent."
6

And in Rax v He_Pworth 1928 AD p 265 at 277 in an Oft-cited passage CURLEWIS J.A, saldt
"A criminal trial is not a game where one aide la entitled to claim the benefit of any omission or mistake made by the other side, and a Judge's position in a criminal-trial is not merely that of an umpire to see that the rules of the game are observed by both sides. A Judge is an administrator of Justice, he is not merely a figure head, he has not only to direct and control the proceedings according to recognised rules of procedure but to see that Justice is done*"
Applying these dicta to the present case, it aeems to ma that HANNAH, J* was in error in deciding the matter on the baaia that aa the plea of autrefois acquit had not been raised by the Appellant at the proceedings before the Bamangwato Tribal Authority, his application ahould be dismissed.
The Appellant than noted an appeal against the daoialon of HANNAH, J. to this Court and the matter came before three members of thia Court at ita last session in June, 1981. That Court made the following Ordert-
"Thla Court haa now decided in view of the fact that at least two issuea raised in this appeal may have conatltutlonal implications, this Court adjourns this

In Attorney General of the Gambia v N.1e 1961 (2) AER 504 at 511 (P*C.) Lord Denning said -
"The words "person aggrieved" are of wide import and should not be subjected to a restrictive interpretation. They do not Include* of course, a mere busybody who is interfering in things which do not concern himf but they do include a person who has a genuine grievance because an order has been made which prejudicially affects his interests."
It cannot in my opinion be seriously contended that ^
Keipldile. the complainant, was not a person aggrieved,,,
It was his beast which it was alleged was stolen. H;
is quite true that the decision of the lower courts did not
necessarily mean that the beast in question had not to be
returned to the complainant, but the Order of the higher
Customary Court makes it quite clear to my mind that it was
competent for the Lower Customary Court had it found the
Appellant guilty to have made an order similar to the one
made by the Higher Customary Court, namely to return the
beast found to have been stolen, together with its calves,
cf. Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act Section 314.
The second question is whether the procedure followed in the Customary Courts, presumably the Higher Customary Court, does not conflict with Section 10(3) of the Constitution. I am unable to *ee upon what grounds this can be contended. A right of appeal is given to tfie* prosecution, albeit limited, in the Court of Appeal Act (Section 12 (1))against an cquittal in the Lower Court*

Similarly, under Section 9 (2) there is a limited right
of appeal against an acquittal given to the Attorney-General or/private prosecutor to the High Court from all subordinate courts in Botswana. Consequently, the concept of an appeal against an acquittal is not unknown in the Courts of Botswana and, indeed, to my knowledge is permitted in certain cases in England, Section 10 (5) of the Constitution, upon which the Appellant relies and which has been quoted above, In itself carries within it the right of appeal relating to previous conviction or acquittal. The question remains whether the procedure followed in the Customary Court of re-hearing all the evidence is in any way in conflict with the Constitution or that of any other statute. The concept of a total re-hearing on appeal is not unknown. In this connection it has to be berae in mind that Section 25 of the Customary Courts Act provides thatt
"Subject to suoh rules as may be made under Section 44 the practice of procedure of a Customary Court shall be regulated in accordance with oustomary law."
The Customary Courts' ProceduresRules made under Section 44 of the Customary Courts Act do not deal with the question of procedure on appeal with the consequence that the matter is goverutu by customary law*
Moreover Section 45 of the Customary Courts Aet readsi
13

It follows from what I ha/e said that, in y opinion, the appeal should be dismissed,
I consider it would not be out of place if something was said about the proceduie of bringing atters before the High Court under the provisions of Section 18 of the Constitution. In the United States of America the Supreme Court has refused to pronounce decisions upon constitutional questions unless it has been absolutely compelled to do so in the particular caae. Its reason for so doing is to minimise the possibility of conflict between it and the exe^itivc or the legislature, cf. Professor Bernard Schwartz's Work on American Constitutional Law at pp 147 and 148. With respect, I consider thla to be a proper approach, and one that this Court should follow. In the present * case, for example, where the Appellant'a complaint was that he had already been acquitted of the offence with which he was subsequently charged and convicted, the matter in diapute could have been dealt with by the High Court In Its ordinary appellate Jurisdiction, Cf Section 37 (4) of the Customary Courts Act, read with Section 149 (1) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act and Section 9 (1) (e) of the High Court Act* There was. In my opinion, no nec *nlty for this caae to be treated aa one Involving any question of constitutional rights.

I agreei
I agreet
T. A. AGUDA Judge of Appeal
A. N. E. AMISSAH Judge of Appeal

J.R. Dendy Young
I agree with the judgment of Maisels, President, that the appeal must be dismissed for the reasons stated by him*
I desire, however to make one comment on the learned President's remark about the procedure of bringing matters before the High Court under Section 18 of the Constitution.
I would not like to be a party to any possible suggestion that there should be some sort of clog on the right of a citizen to bring matters before the High Court wider Section 18*
- 17
As Z understand the approach of the Courts, It is this: where a constitutional issue is raised, but it is possible,to decide the despute without recourse to the constitutional issue, the Court will avoid giving a decision on the constitutional Issue*
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KENTRIDOB. J,A.
I agraa with tha judgment and order of th learned President. I would add the following observations*
Both counsel were agreed that tha Issue on which the appeal turned was whether the proceedings before the Senior Customary Court constituted a aecend trial, or an appeal against the acquittal of the present appellant by the Bobonong Customary Court* Mr. Marumo, for the appellant, pointed to certain aspects af tha hearing in tha Senior Customary Court as indicating that it was In affect a re-trial of the appellants IT example, the abaence af any avert reference ta the record of tha trial in tha lower court, the calling af all tha witnesses wha gave evidence in the court below ta give oral evidence afresh, and the recarding af the Judgment as a canvlctian el the accused rather than as tha uphelding mt an appeal.
However, avawClagof tha records of both customary courts makes it clear that the second hearing was aa appeal to a superior court. It was initiated by a notice from the complainant
S

headed "Grounds ef Appeal", and the complainant began his evidence by saying "I was not happy
with the customary court Judgment        "
Mr* N. Lebati, the Deputy Tribal Authority, who pretflded at the second hearing, has said in an uncontradicted affidavit that the hearing before him was on appeal* Indeed* the appellant himself has said in an affidavit that he had assumed that the second hearing was an appeal by the complainant. Further, Mr* M. Mekgadl, the Tribal Authority of the Central District, has described the normal procedure used in appeals to Senior Customary Courts. Ho says, in an affidavit,
"Procedure on appeal is by way ef rehearing, i.e. witnesses are called and heard all over again".
Mr. Skelomanl, who appeared IT the respondent,
suggested that this procedure had evolved in a
period when no written records were kept, so that
no other effective form ef appeal was possible*
This seems highly probable* In any event*
appeals by way of a complete rehearing of the
witnesses are not unknown in other systems. One
may refer to the customary form of appeals from
magistrates to quarter sessions In England Cf*
19

Paprika Ltd v Beard of Trade. (1944) K.B. 327, 332.
Mr. Skelenanl also rightly pointed out that this form ef appeal gives a fuller and more effective right ef appeal than an appeal based solely en a written record. It therefore undoubtedly benefits an appellant who has been convicted in a customary court. This case is perhaps unusual, because it concerns an appeal en the facts not against a conviction but against an acquittal. Such appeals do not lie against acquittals in the magistrates courts and the High Court. But, as the learned President points out, section 10 (5) of the Constitution contemplates appeals against acquittals as well as convictions. There is nothing in the Constitution which would prohibit an appeal en the facts againt an acquittal. Her, subject to the rules ef natural Justice, dees it require any particular appeal procedure.
The Constitution ef Botswana, in my opinion, is capable ef accommodating a variety of legal institutions and procedures. It should net be read as eliminating customary court procedures other than any which may be shown plainly to conflict with the previsions of section 10 or any other section of the Constitution.
on

S. W. Kentridge Judge of Appeal

LOBATSE 4.12*81
21