Toyin Omoniyi The police have the right to grant bail to an accused person within 48 hours except if the person is accused of a capital offence. Capital offence is an offence that is punishable with death. It is against the law for the police to detain anyone for more than 48 hours.
This police bail is granted pending conclusions of their investigations. The application for police bail should be in writing, with a valid surety and a passport photograph of the surety. It is supposed to be free without any money exchanging hands but…click here to read more http://www.tylegal.com/2015/11/bail-is-free-fact-or-fallacy.html …
Once the accused is charged to court, the police bail expires and he has to be granted another bail by the court. Court bail is applied for by the accused’s lawyer. The court has the power to grant bail either pending trial or pending an appeal.
It is more difficult to secure bail pending an appeal because in that case, the accused has already been found guilty and is appealing the guilty verdict. He is no longer presumed innocent and it is left for the accused to prove to the court that he should be released on bail. He however has to show that he has actually filed an appeal in court.
There are several issues the court will consider before granting bail such as:
1. The health condition of the accused.
2. The possibility of the accused committing another offence while on bail.
3. The nature of the offence that was committed and the gravity of the punishment.
4. The likelihood that the accused will interfere with police investigations.
5. Whether the accused is a first offender.
6. The number of times the accused has committed the offence.
Where it is a capital offence, the court can only grant bail based on strict rules and conditions.
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