The Appellants were aggrieved by the decision of the trial court which convicted them for the offence of murder contrary to section 196 of the Penal Code [Cap 16 R.E. 2002], and imposed a mandatory death sentence. Being so aggrieved, they preferred their appeal to the Court of Appeal. When the appeal was called on for hearing, the Court suo motu raised an apparent defect which raised an issue whether the appeal was in the first place tenable. The plea of the Appellants was taken at the High Court. Similarly, subsequent Preliminary Hearing was also conducted before a High Court Judge. But, the trial that followed after the preliminary hearing was conducted by a Principal Resident Magistrate vested with extended jurisdiction.