REPUBLIC v. ALI MOHAMMED

Upon leave that the Court granted on 9 February 2023 upon an application filed

under the Criminal & Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30) s. 326, the Appellant

filed this appeal on 24 February 2023, dissatisfied not with his conviction for the

charges of conspiracy and robbery with arms contrary to sections 23(1) and 149 of

the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) respectively1 but rather with the 25 years

IHL sentence the trial Circuit Court Kpandu passed on him after convicting him

of the two charges on 19 February 2016. The ground of the appeal, therefore is for

the mitigation of the 25 years sentence.

The brief facts of the case I can recite here are that on 29 April 2015 at about 3 am

at a section of the road, one and a half kilometres from Ve- Golokwati Police

Barrier, a gang of armed men, some in face masks blocked the road with logs and

stopped vehicles from both directions of the road and ordered passengers on

board vehicles compelled to stop to alight from the vehicles. The men robbed the

passengers of their mobile phones, laptops, cash and other valuables. A driver

who got to the scene; saw the danger and quickly turned to inform policemen at

Ve- Golokwati of the robbery. The Police came to the scene at a time the robbers

had fled into the bush with their booty. Some of the men were later arrested and

on 10 June 2015, an identification parade was held at the Hohoe Divisional CID

office. Three of the men including the Appellant were identified by some of the

victims. The accused persons including the Appellant were charged with the

offences; found guilty of the charges of conspiracy and robbery by the trial court

and sentenced to 25 years for each count, to run concurrently.

Arguing the appeal, learned counsel for the Appellant submitted that the 25 years

IHL sentence the trial Circuit Court handed to the Appellant is harsh and

excessive. According to learned counsel, the purpose of the appeal is “bringing to

bare certain mitigating factors to the court to scale down the sentence of the

Appellant to 15 years” Citing a couple of decided cases - Kwashie v The Republic

[1971] GLR 488; Gligah & Atisa v The Republic [2010] SCGLR; Kamil v The Republic

[2011] 1 SCGLR 300 in support of her submission.

Factors that the courts consider in determining the length of sentences include the

period that had been spent in lawful custody in respect of that offence before the

completion of his trial. See Article 14(4) of the 1