July 7, 2004
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Supreme Court of Ghana, per Prof. Modibo Ocran JSC, affirmed the Court of Appeal’s rescission of bail for five of six accused persons charged with narcotics offences under PNDC Law 236. The Greater Accra Regional Tribunal had originally granted bail; the Attorney-General appealed, and the Court of Appeal revoked bail. On further appeal, the Supreme Court articulated a comprehensive framework: the presumption of innocence under Article 19(2)(c) does not automatically entitle an accused to bail; Article 14(4) creates a direct duty to grant bail only when trial is not held within a reasonable time; otherwise, a rebuttable presumption of bail exists but is governed by judicial discretion and the statutory factors in s.96 of Act 30, including the nature of the accusation, gravity of the offence, severity of punishment, and likelihood of flight. Applying these principles, the Court found real flight risks: several accused lacked fixed abodes or had weak ties, and drugs were allegedly found at the first accused’s home. Public interest and Ghana’s treaty obligations in narcotics enforcement also weighed against bail; the trial had already commenced.
PROF. MODIBO OCRAN, JSC: This Court gave its ruling on this case on 11th June, 2004 and reserved its Reasons for the Ruling for today, 7th July, 2004. We now proceed to give the reasons for our earlier ruling.
This is an appeal against the refusal of the Court of Appeal to grant an application for bail to the appellants. The six accused persons were arraigned before the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal on 28 January 2004 on narcotics-related charges based on sections 56 (c), 1(1) and 2 of the Narcotic Drugs (Control, Enforcement and Sanctions Law), 1990 (PNDC 236). The Tribunal as trial court granted bail on 3rd February 2004 to all the accused on specified conditions. The Attorney-General’s Office appealed against the grant of bail to the Court of Appeal, which delivered a ruling on 3rd March 2004 upholding the appeal and thereby rescinding the grant of bail in respect of all the accused. This matter came before us on further appeal by all but one of the accused persons, namely, the 2nd accused.
The grounds of appeal were set out in their respective Notices of Appeal as follows:
For the Ist Accused, that:
“ i. The decision by the Court of Appeal to allow the appeal against the grant of bail to 1st Accused/Appellant was unreasonable having regard to all the circumstances of the case.
ii. The decision by the Court of Appeal to allow the appeal against the grant of bail to 1st Accused/Appellant resulted in a gross miscarriage of justice to 1st Accused/Appellant, the reason being that the basis of the appeal before the Court of Appeal and the reasons given by the said Court for the revocation of the bail granted to 1st Accused/Appellant warranted, at the very least, a review of the conditions upon which 1st Accused/Appellant was granted bail and not an outright refusal of same.
iii. The Court of Appeal erred in its interpretation of the applicable provisions of the Criminal Code 1960((Act 30) as against the relevant provisions of the Constitution 1992 of the Republic of Ghana on the grant of bail to accused persons, the reason being that it downplayed the constitutional provisions providing for the pretrial release of an accused person on bail in favour of the guiding (not mandatory) principles governing the grant of bail as contained in section 96 of Act 30.”
For the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Accused, that:
“ 3.1.The judgment of the Court of Appeal rescinding the order for the grant of bail to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Accused/Applicants/Respondents/Appellants by