NJIHIA V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT

Perhaps the less said about this appeal the better. The appellant’s conviction is quashed and sentence set aside. He is serving another sentence at present.

The appellant’s first appeal was summarily rejected. It ought not to have been. See section 352(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that when an appeal is brought on the ground that the conviction is against the weight of the evidence or that the sentence is excessive, and “there is no material in the circumstances of the case which could raise a reasonable doubt whether the conviction was right or lead him to the opinion that the sentence ought to be reduced”, the appeal may be summarily rejected. There are, therefore, two thresholds; the first depends upon the nature of the petition, but the second and more important, depends upon the judge’s careful scrutiny of the record. Even if the petition of appeal to the High Court might possibly be thought to comply with the first test, the second test could never be compil…