REPUBLIC vs. MENSAH

JUDGMENT OF GBADEGBE JA Gbadegbe JA delivered the judgment of the court at the invitation of Ofori-Boateng JSC. The question which arises in this interlocutory appeal is whether the admission of the respondent to bail pending appeal by a High Court judge after the same had earlier on been refused by a judge of co-ordinate jurisdiction, is right in the circumstances of the case? Much as we take the view that the said question is of some importance to the administration of the criminal justice system, we think that having regard to the fact that the respondent has been on bail for more than four and half years pending the determination of his appeal, this brings his situation within the criteria described as exceptional or unusual circumstance which on the state of the authorities entitles him to the grant of bail pending appeal. It being so, we do not desire to inquire into the appeal herein on the merits. In our view to do so would amount to doing that which serves the purpose of...