Spenser-Wilkinson J:

The Judgment of the Court of Appeal was delivered by :-

In this case the three appellants were convicted of participation in a gang robbery alleged to have been committed in the shop of the complainant, Mohan Lal, on the night of 10 January 1948, when seven Sikhs came to his shop at 2 a.m. and, after assaulting him and threatening him with a knife, prevailed upon him to hand over all his money amounting to $854.

Counsel for the appellants admitted that the evidence for the defence was inconclusive but contended that the evidence for the prosecution was inadequate to support a conviction. Three witnesses gave evidence for the prosecution and a fourth witness, to whom later reference will be made, was tendered for crossexamination. The first two witnesses each stated that Mohan Lal had told them something as a reason for not being able to pay his debts to them when asked to do so. What reason he actually gave is not stated nor are the dates of the conversations deposed to, except that the first witness says it was some time in February. In so far, therefore, as the calling of these witnesses was an attempt to corroborate the evidence of Mohan Lal it fa