Criminal law - obbery with violence contrary to section 296 (2) of the Penal Code - appellants convicted by the Senior Principal Magistrate's Court and sentenced to death - firs appeal dismissed by the High Court - second appeal - doctrine of recent possession - the second appellant was found in possession of goods recently stolen from the complainant and a presumption that he was one of the robbers,was properly drawn - meaning of possession - 1st appellant led police to the house of the 2nd appellant where the 2nd appellant was arrested and stolen goods recovered,it can be inferred that he knew that the 2nd appellant was involved in the robbery and that he was in possession of the stolen goods. In the circumstances,he is deemed to have been in constructive possession of the stolen goods jointly without 2nd appellant section 31 of the Evidence Act - The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2005 – Act No. 5 of 2005 - An inference that he was also involved in the robbery was correctly drawn - appeal dismissed.

Criminal law - murder contrary to section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code - appellant convicted and sentenced to death - appeal - state counsel conceding appeal on the ground that the guiding principle in circumstantial evidence were not followed by the trial court - In a case depending exclusively on circumstantial evidence,the court must,before deciding upon a conviction,find that the inculpatory facts are incompatible with the innocence of the accused and incapable of explanation upon any other hypothesis than that of guilt. It is also necessary before drawing the inference of the accused’s guilt from the circumstantial evidence to be sure that there are no other co-existing circumstances which would weaken or destroy the inference - appeal allowed.

Criminal law - murder - case depending on circumstantial evidence - test which such evidence must meet in order to form a basis for conviction - the version of events given by the appellant presented a reasonable hypothesis that was incompatible with his guilt. If the police wanted to discount that hypothesis,it was incumbent on them to investigate the robbery report made by the appellant. They did not and there is therefore no basis for rejecting it outright - appeal allowed,appellant set at liberty.

[RULING] Civil Procedure - An application for extension of time to file Notice of Appeal and Record of Appeal out of time - Rule 54 (1) (b) of the Court’s Rules - reference to the full court to vary,discharge or reverse the decision of a single judge refusing to extend time - on the material placed before him,the learned single Judge exercised his discretion correctly - the learned single Judge was exercising an unfettered discretion so that even if the full Court were to think the reason offered was adequate,that would not,by itself,entitle the full court to substitute its discretion for that of the single Judge - reference dismissed.

[RULING] Civil Procedure - Application to strike out the Record of Appeal for the reason that it was filed out of time - the Certificate of Delay issued by the Deputy Registrar is not informative about the time taken to prepare copies of the proceedings - the certificate should comply fully or substantially with the wording of rule 80 of the Court of Appeal Rules - however,there is no prescribed form for Certificates of Delay. The proviso to rule 80 provides for not only “preparation” but also “delivery” of the copies to the appellant - The Certificate of Delay confirms when delivery of the copies was made to the appellants. That is all that the rule requires of the Court to consider - in this case,any errors of omission or commission were made by the Court - there was no reason to strike out the appeal - application dismissed with costs.

[RULING]Civil Procedure - Application for leave to lodge and serve Notice of Appeal and Record of appeal out of time from the Judgment of the High Court - Notice of Motion stated to have been brought under “Rules 4,42,74 and 76 of the Court of Appeal Rules” - delay of about 17 months - in an application under rule 4 of this Court’s Rules,a single Judge of this Court is called upon to exercise his unfettered discretion but like any other judicial discretion that discretion must be exercised with reason. The matters which are to be considered whether to grant an extension of time are first the length of the delay,the reason for the delay,the chances of the appeal succeeding and lastly the degree of prejudice to the respondent if the application is granted. - The applicant was not informed of the outcome of his case immediately the judgment was delivered by the superior court. The court file of the superior court had gone missing - application allowed.

Criminal law - murder contrary to section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code - three sons and their mother alleged to have killed their own father and husband respectively - one accused person convicted and sentenced to death - appeal against both conviction and sentence - appellant's retracted charge and caution statement/confession - as a matter of practice or prudence the trial Court should direct itself that it is dangerous to act upon a statement which has been retracted in the absence of corroboration in some material particular,but the court might do so if it is fully satisfied in the circumstances of the case that the confession must be true - corroboration was to be found from the conduct of the appellant when he led the police to a pit latrine where the skeleton of the deceased was recovered - The appellant’s statement and his conduct clearly point at the appellant as one of those who were involved in the unlawful killing of the deceased - that the appellant was guilty of the offence as charged SENTENCING - sentencing of minors or children - appellant aged 13 years at the time of committing offence - appellant ought not have been sentenced to death - Section 25(2) of the Penal Code - the appeal against sentence is allowed - appellant be detained at the President’s pleasure.

Criminal law - murder contrary to section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code - convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter contrary to section 202 as read with section 205 of the Code and sentenced to ten (10) years imprisonment - appeal against conviction and sentence - appellant having opened gun fire in response to a robbery - the continuous firing of twenty bullets without any concern as to where they might land resulted in the shooting of the deceased and the appellant cannot and could not possibly say that his shooting of the deceased was lawful - appellant was reckless and he was correctly convicted on the charge of manslaughter - SENTENCE - sentence of ten years imprisonment was manifestly harsh and excessive - sentence reduced to one of five years imprisonment to run from the date when it was imposed by the trial Judge

[RULING]Civil Procedure - Application to strike out the record of an appeal from the ruling and order of the High Court - grounds: that the order which is the basis of the appeal is incurably defective,and that the letter bespeaking copies of proceedings was not copied to the applicants,thus rendering the filing of the appeal out of time - those defects render the appeal incompetent

[RULING] Civil Procedure - Application for extension of time within which to lodge an appeal from a decision of the High Court - Court of Appeal Rules rule 4 - applicant's advocate having failed to heed instructions to file notice of appeal within time - notice filed 14 days late - delay not substantial - respondent not opposing the application - application allowed.