Supreme Court dismisses suit challenging law criminalizing attempted suicide

Ghanaian

The Supreme Court has dismissed a suit challenging the constitutionality of a law that criminalized attempted suicide, following the recent amendment by Parliament that decriminalized the act, Graphic Online reports.

A seven-member panel, led by Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, deemed the legal challenge moot due to the passage of the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act, 2021, which removed attempted suicide from the

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During the hearing, state attorneys confirmed the new legislation to the court, prompting Justice Baffoe-Bonnie to rule, "Because of the passage of the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act, 2021, this action is moot and, therefore, struck out."

The panel also included Justices Avril Lovelace Johnson, Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu, Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, Ernest Yao Gaewu, Yaw Darko Asare, and Richard Adjei-Frimpong.

The case was originally brought in 2021 by lawyer Christian Lebrechet Malm-Hesse, who argued that Section 57 (2) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), which criminalized attempted suicide, was unconstitutional. He contended that individuals attempting suicide were suffering from mental health issues and required psychological treatment rather than imprisonment.

Malm-Hesse maintained that a person with a mental disability could not possess the intent (mens rea) necessary to commit a crime and that punishing such individuals was discriminatory.

The legislative change, driven by a private members' bill sponsored by NPP MP Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi and NDC MP Bernard Ahiafor, recognized attempted suicide as a mental health condition and aimed to provide support rather than punishment. This amendment also aims to help decongest prisons and reduce the workload on prosecutors.