Zainab Sheriff’s Appeal to Be Heard in July After Court Declines to Strike It Out

Justice Mark Ngegba has ruled that Yeabu Zainab Sheriff’s appeal against her four-year prison sentence will go ahead.

This afternoon, the High Court refused the government’s application to throw out the entire appeal on a technical point. The judge found that the Notice of Appeal did not fully comply with the old 1969 court rules, but he decided this was not serious enough to dismiss the case.

Instead, Justice Ngegba ordered Sheriff’s lawyers to re-file the appeal papers in the correct format. He also directed that the appeal will be heard on the written records from the original magistrate’s court trial, with no new witnesses called.