Criminal law - robbery with violence - appeal against sentence of death - evidence - evidence of one witness - whether such evidence needs to be corroborated - whether the trial court and first appellate court had properly considered and evaluated the evidence - Penal Code section 296(2)

Criminal law - robbery with violence - second appeal against sentence of death - evidence - doctrine of recent possession - duty of person found in recent possession of stolen property to offer an explanation of how he came to be in possession of the property - presumption arising where no such explanation is offered - whether the trial court and the first appellate court had properly applied the doctrine of recent possession - whether the evidence of identification was reliable - Penal Code section 296(2) - Evidence Act section 119

Criminal law - murder - mother convicted for the murder of her child by strangulation and sentenced to death -  appeal against conviction- deceased child having been born out of wedlock - child unwanted by his stepfather and grandparents - child apparently killed in order to enable the mother to realize her union with the stepfather - whether the appellant had malice aforethought - defence of diminished responsibility - whether the appellant was guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter - Penal Code section 203, 204

Criminal law - defilement of a girl under the age of sixteen years - second appeal against conviction and sentence of 14 years imprisonment - second appeal confined only to matters of law - whether the girl's pregnancy and subsequent delivery of a child was corroboration evidence of a sexual encounter - whether the girl, being under the age of sixteen years, was capable of legally consenting to sexual intercourse - Penal Code section 145(1) - Criminal Procedure Code section 361(1)

Criminal law - murder - woman convicted of the murder of her two-year-old son - conviction based on circumstantial evidence - test to be applied to circumstantial evidence in order for it to form a basis for a conviction - whether the prosecution had failed to totally eliminate the possibility that the child had died of natural causes - Penal Code section 203, 204

[Ruling] Civil Practice and Procedure - appeal - application for stay of execution of an order of the High Court pending appeal - duty of the applicant to establish both that the intended appeal was arguable and that unless a stay was granted, the success of the appeal would be rendered nugatory - applicant seeking to restrain the respondent from foreclosing on a piece of land which he had charged in return for a loan - whether the fact that any loss that the applicant was likely to suffer could be compensated in damages meant that the appeal was not arguable - Court of Appeal Rules rule 5(2)(b)

Criminal law - murder - mother convicted for the murder of her child by strangulation and sentenced to death -  appeal against conviction- deceased child having been born out of wedlock - child unwanted by his stepfather and grandparents - child apparently killed in order to enable the mother to realize her union with the stepfather - whether the appellant had malice aforethought - defence of diminished responsibility - whether the appellant was guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter - Penal Code section 203, 204

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Criminal law - second appeal against conviction and sentence -  Penal Code section 296(2)

Criminal Practice and Procedure - trial - close of the prosecution's case - record of trial showing that a prosecution witness was allowed to give evidence even after the court had recorded that the prosecution had closed its case - serious irregularity rendering the trial null and void - whether a retrial should be ordered.