Flora Cherubet Talam v Republic

Court of Appeal of Kenya

25 September 1997

JGJ.E. Gicheru ASA.B. Shah SBS.E.O. Bosire

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The bottom line

Kenya's Court of Appeal cut a 10-year manslaughter sentence, releasing a woman immediately because her difficult marriage and time already served made the term excessive.

What this practically means

Executive summary

The appellant, Flora Cherubet Talam, appealed to the Court of Appeal at Nakuru against a 10-year imprisonment sentence imposed by the High Court at Eldoret (Justice Aganyanya) on 7 April 1992 for manslaughter. The facts were tragic: after a fight with her husband in a long-difficult marriage marked by frequent quarrels and fights, and while attempting to leave him with her five children on 4 April 1990, she tied the children with a leso and dropped them into a river, then attempted to drown herself. The children died of asphyxia due to drowning; she survived. She pleaded guilty before the superior court and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. At the hearing of the appeal she told the court she was then 30 years old and had served over five years of her term, in addition to being in custody since 5 April 1990. In a single judgment of the whole court, delivered by Gicheru, Shah JJ.A. and Bosire AG.J.A., the court held that, given the circumstances attendant to the commission of the offence and her long period of incarceration, the 10-year sentence was slightly on the higher side. The court allowed the appeal against sentence only and reduced the sentence to a term that would lead to her immediate release from custody unless otherwise lawfully held. The conviction was not disturbed. No costs order was made and no authorities or statutes were cited in the judgment.

Key legal issues

Whether the 10-year sentence for manslaughter was excessive

Holding

The sentence was reduced to a term resulting in the appellant's immediate release, the court holding it was slightly on the higher side given the circumstances of the offence and the over five years already served.

Reasoning

The appellant pleaded guilty to manslaughter after drowning her five children following a fight with her husband in a difficult marriage. She had served over five years of the term, plus prior custody from 5 April 1990. Balancing the attendant circumstances of the offence against her long period of incarceration, the court found the 10-year term slightly excessive and interfered with the sentence only, not the conviction.

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Legal principles established

In sentencing for manslaughter committed against a background of a difficult and abusive marital relationship, an appellate court may reduce a sentence that is excessive having regard to the circumstances of the offence and the period of incarceration already served.

Court orders

1.Appeal against sentence allowed
2.Sentence of 10 years imprisonment reduced to a term that will lead to the appellant's immediate release from custody unless otherwise lawfully held

On appeal from: High Court of Kenya at Eldoret; H.C.CR.C. No. 24 of 1992
Jurisdiction invoked: First appellate jurisdiction over an appeal against sentence from the High Court (Criminal Appeal No. 6 of 1994)

Key timeline

Practical implications

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Cite this brief

Caselaw, "Flora Cherubet Talam v Republic", Case Analysis (1997). Criminal Appeal No. 6 of 1994. Source:

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