The Applicant was tried, convicted and sentenced to a prison
sentence of 30 years for armed robbery and appealed to the High Court but lost
the appeal. He intended to appeal to the Court of Appeal but did not lodge a
notice of appeal in time. His application to the High Court for leave to lodge
both the notice of appeal and the memorandum of appeal out of time was
dismissed. He made a similar application in the Court of Appeal and advanced
three grounds. The first was that when the High Court dismissed his appeal he
was not present in court but his former advocate who was present did not inform
him of the results of his appeal and he only came to know of it when the period
of fourteen days within which to lodged a notice of appeal had expired. The
second ground given is that he did not receive any assistance from the Prison
authorities. The third ground is that he has been advised by his current
advocates that his intended appeal stands great chances of success.