Criminal Practice and Procedure – sentence – appeal against sentence – grounds that it was harsh and excessive – appellant having been convicted and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment in the trial court – sentence enhanced to 14 years by the superior court on appeal – where the attorney General had not sought the enhancement – maximum sentence being 21 years – mitigating circumstances – manner in which the court will handle appeals on sentence – whether the superior court had been right in enhancing the sentence – Penal Code section 162 (a); Criminal Procedure Code section 354 (3)& (6)

Criminal practice and procedure – sentencing - second appeal against sentence of seven and three years imprisonment for the offence of theft and malicious damage to property  respectively - sentences to run concurrently – appellant’s claim that the sentences imposed  were harsh – whether the Court of Appeal had jurisdiction to entertain  second appeal on the ground of severity of  sentence – whether the appeal had merit – Penal Code sections  279(a) 339(1) – Criminal Procedure Code section 361(1) (a)

Criminal Practice and Procedure – sentence – legality of sentence – appellant having been sentenced to life imprisonment with 15 strokes of the cane for a conviction of causing grievous bodily harm - principle upon which the appellate court will act in exercising its jurisdiction to review or alter a sentence imposed by the trial court – corporal punishment having been legal at the time of sentencing but having later been revoked – effect of – Penal Code (Cap 63) section 234

Criminal Procedure – defilement– appeal against conviction and sentence – where there was no record of the prosecution witness being sworn before giving testimony – evidential value of such testimony - whether it was a mandatory requirement in court proceedings that witnesses be sworn.Evidence – child evidence - child of tender years - duty of the court to conduct a voire dire examination – where it was a mandatory requirement for the court to conduct a voire dire examination on a child of tender years – validity of conviction and sentence. – Oaths and Statutory Declarations Act section 19

Criminal practice and procedure – appeal – second appeal – appeal against conviction and sentence on a charge of defilement of a girl – memorandum of appeal failing to raise strictly issues of law – matters dealt with at the second appeal – appellant claiming that the trial was conducted in a language that the he did not understand – whether the appellant was prejudiced by this – Penal Code (Cap 63) section 145(1); Criminal Procedure Code (Cap 75) section 198 Criminal practice and procedure – sentence – appellant claiming sentence of 25 years for defilement was harsh and excessive – court jurisdiction – circumstances under which the appellate court would re-examine sentence – inconsistency in terms of imprisonment – court consideration

Criminal law – appeal – appellant convicted for the offence of defilement – appellant charged under section 8 (1) of the Sexual Offences Act instead of section of 8 (3) of the same Act – whether the framing of the charge occasioned prejudice of failure of justice on the appellant to invalidated the charge - sentence – whether the sentence imposed upon the appellant had questionable legality entitling the appellate court to interfere