AXIM vs. THE REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF APALOO J. The issue involved in this criminal appeal appears to be novel in the sense that my researches through our law reports have not revealed any reported case on it, although the principle by which the issue is to be determined may be deduced from two seemingly conflicting decisions of the Court of Appeal. The issue is this: Has the High Court jurisdiction to entertain an appeal against the conviction of a circuit court in its summary jurisdiction, in respect of which conviction the High Court had earlier on allowed an appeal against the sentence founded on this very conviction? The background of this appeal is that sometime in the first half of 1987 the Ho township was panic-striken by a series of organised thefts into people’s stores and houses. In the midst of this panic two people in possession of some stolen items were arrested in a room hired by the appellant herein. They were prosecuted for stealing before the Circuit Court, Ho, convicted and sentenced to t.....