PIUS UMEZULIKE OBIDIUME vs. THE REPUBLIC

Baffour J.A: The menace that the illicit drug trade has had on this nation and the world at large cannot be recounted here. The traffickers in search of filthy lucre have wrecked incalculable damage to people and thereby given blasted hopes to most of our unguided youth that fall victim to narcotic drugs. Whiles our laws are stringent enough to dissuade people from taking trading in narcotics as a way of life, our courts have also imposed the severest of punishment upon conviction. This appeal raises for our consideration the exercise of the discretion of the trial Judge in imposing sentence and whether there is any justification for us to review the sentence that was imposed within the context of the law and in the exercise of our powers. The Appellant, a Nigerian by nationality was arraigned before the High Court, Fast Track Division, on the 25th of July, 2014 and charged with two counts of importation of narcotic drugs into Ghana without a license and second count of possessio...