motu deferred the Ruling on the bail application. She submitted the
affidavit in support of the Motion by the State is bare and does not
support the reliefs sought.
She said she was served with a Counter Affidavit and Further Counter
Affidavit against her own application only that morning and that it is
the Further Counter Affidavit that has an Exhibit which, Counsel
submitted, appeared to be a charge against the Applicant for Rape;
and that as far as she is concerned as Counsel, the punishment for
Rape is life imprisonment and that there is nothing in the both
Counter Affidavits that can take away the Applicant’s constitutional
right of bail pending trial of the charge against him. Counsel
submitted that she differed with the criteria for the grant of bail as
presented by the State Counsel especially, the probability of guilt and
the strength of evidence against the accused.
This is because,
Counsel submitted, the Court is not in a position to determine that
there is a probability of guilt or that the evidence is strong against
the accused person at the stage. Again, she submitted, there is no
evidence that the accused, if granted bail, was likely to interfere with
the prosecution’s witnesses. Counsel submitted that the criteria to be
considered is whether the offence is bailable, and submitted that by
virtue of the Constitutional provision the offence is bailable. What is
now left, Counsel concluded, is what conditions the Court will impose
on the applicant to ensure that he appears in Court for his trial; that
there is no evidence that he will jump bail if granted bail.
5