R. v. Basilh, Application for bail pending appeal: 29/9/71; Onyiuke, J.

 R. v. Basilh, Application for bail pending appeal: 29/9/71; Onyiuke, J.

The appellant was convicted of the offence of corrupt transaction c/s 3(2) of the Prevention of Corruption act, 1971. he had offered and gave 20/= to an employee of the Income Tax Department as an inducement for the latter to issue him a tax clearance certificate without his investigating that he had paid all income tax due. The appellant was apprehended in a police trap handing over the money to the officer. The magistrate accepted the evidence of the employee, convicted the appellant of the offence and sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment. The appellant sought bail pending the appeal under section 321(1) (a) of the criminal Procedure Code. His counsel contended that the magistrate admitted and acted on hearsay evidence, that certain witnesses were not called with the result that the prosecution’s case was seriously weakened. He also claimed that the magistrate wrongly admitted a confessional statement made by the appellant.

Held: (1) “The purpose of these submissions was to show that the appeal that had merit and was likely to succeed. I am not persuaded that the appellant had made out a case for bail. It is now well established principle that bail pending appeal should not be granted except in a case where there are over-whelming chances of success. The learned counsel’s submissions will require the consideration of the evidence in depth and this is not the function of a court considering the question of bail. The court is not hearing the appeal at this stage. There was nothing on the face of the judgment which would indicate that the learned magistrate was manifestly wrong in his conclusion or that he grossly misdirected himself. Whether the appellant’s statement amounted to a confession as contended for would have to be argued and the effect of its wrongful admission would then have to be gone into in the light of the evidence which is not now before me.” (2) Application for bail refused.