[1971]DLHC2114 • September 27, 1971 • High Court
FYNN AND ANOTHER vs. THE REPUBLIC
The applicants, charged with multiple counts of stealing sums of money from their employer, the Kumasi City Council, were convicted by the Circuit Court after a lengthy trial lasting over two and a half years involving 27 witnesses and multiple exhibits. The first applicant was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour on each count, and the second applicant to two years on each count, sentences to run concurrently. They filed petitions of appeal and applied for bail pending appeal, citing delays in obtaining certified copies of the judgment and the record of proceedings, and arguing prima facie errors in the conviction and likelihood of success on appeal.
read moreThis is an application for bail pending appeal. In my opinion it is a matter of great moment and of the utmost importance and calls for very anxious and serious consideration. This is because it involves the proposition that a person who has been found guilty and convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction and whose sentence of imprisonment has not been set aside must nevertheless be let loose on the community instead of his staying in prison to serve a sentence which is prima facie deserved. The matter becomes even more serious where the conviction is not by a grade II district court, manned as such courts are by lay magistrates, but by a judge at the circuit court. In dealing with this matter I must surely not lose sight of the fact that once a convict sentenced to a prison term is encouraged and permitted to be at large the appellate court on grounds of humanity is often in a dilemma and reluctant to send the said convict back to prison. In this connection I recall that in Republ...