JUDGMENT OF TAYLOR J.
This is an application for bail pending appeal. In my opinion it is a matter of great moment and of the utmost importance and calls for very anxious and serious consideration. This is because it involves the proposition that a person who has been found guilty and convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction and whose sentence of imprisonment has not been set aside must nevertheless be let loose on the community instead of his staying in prison to serve a sentence which is prima facie deserved. The matter becomes even more serious where the conviction is not by a grade II district court, manned as such courts are by lay magistrates, but by a judge at the circuit court. In dealing with this matter I must surely not lose sight of the fact that once a convict sentenced to a prison term is encouraged and permitted to be at large the appellate court on grounds of humanity is often in a dilemma and reluctant to send the said convict back to prison. In this connection I recall that in Republic v. Kwadu [1971] 1 G.L.R. 272 in the course of the argument and before the decision of the Court of Appeal in Republic v. Amadu Fulani [1971] 1 G.L.R. 44, C.A., I took the view, compelled by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Republic v. Asare (T.O), Court of Appeal, 29 July 1968, unreported; digested in (1968) C.C. 137, that a sentence of seven years may very well be outside the jurisdiction of the circuit court. Since the appellant had served about three years I thought this appeal against sentence had a prospect of success and accordingly I granted him bail pending the hearing and determination of the appeal. As it turned out the appeal in Republic v. Kwadu (supra) against sentence on the ground of lack of jurisdiction was dismissed and I have no doubt that in reducing the sentence from seven years to three years, I was very much influenced, apart from the other reasons given in the judgment, by the encouragement which I had given the appellant by granting bail. In the case of State v. Halm delivered by the Court of Appeal on 27 July 1967, unreported, the applications for bail by the applicants were refused. Subsequently on 4 June 1968 the appeals against convictions were allowed by the Court of Appeal and they were set free (Court of Appeal 4, June 1968, unreported; digested in (1968) C.C. 123). The Republic applied to the full court for review of the acquittals and on 7 August 1969 the acquittals were set aside and the convictions were re
