CRABBE J.S.C.
On 4 June 1965, the applicant was convicted by the learned district magistrate at Tarkwa on a charge of pretending to be a public officer, contrary to section 237 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29). He was remanded in custody to give the police time to investigate his past record, and at a subsequent hearing he admitted four previous convictions for fraud and four others for stealing. When pleading for leniency he said that he had been moving with bad friends. Thereupon, the learned district magistrate, acting under section 3 (1) of the Punishment of Habitual Criminals Act, 1963 (Act 192), committed the applicant to the High Court, Sekondi, for sentence. This subsection reads as follows:
“Where the Court by which an offender to whom paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) of section 1 of this Act apply is convicted is a Circuit Court, District Court or Local Court, the Court shall not pass sentence upon him but shall commit him for sentence to the High Court, and any en…