Andika alias Lumba & 5 others v Republic (Criminal Appeal (Application) E247, E255, E264, E267 & E273 of 2024 (Consolidated)) [2025] KECA 1205 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Court of Appeal released six murder convicts on Ksh 1 million bond each pending appeal, finding their convictions rested on weak circumstantial evidence.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether the applicants should be admitted to bail/bond pending the hearing and determination of their appeal and intended appeals against conviction and sentence for murder
- 2.Whether there exist exceptional or unusual circumstances, or overwhelming chances of success on appeal, justifying release on bail pending appeal
- 3.Whether stay of execution of the conviction and sentence should be granted pending the appeal
Key legal issues
#The governing principles for bail pending appeal under rule 5(2)(a) of the Court of Appeal Rules
The applicant must demonstrate exceptional or unusual circumstances, or that the appeal has overwhelming chances of success on a substantial point of law, and that the sentence or a substantial part of it will have been served by the time the appeal is heard.
The court restated the settled principles from Dominic Karanja, Jivraj Shah, Isaac Tulicha Guyo and Epungure: bail pending appeal is discretionary; a convicted person has lost the presumption of innocence; bail is granted only in rare and exceptional circumstances; and where the appeal discloses a substantial point of law likely to succeed and substantial sentence will have been served, the conditions for bail exist. The proper approach is consideration of the particular circumstances and the weight and relevance of the points argued.
Whether the applicants' appeal and intended appeals met the threshold for bail pending appeal
Yes. The court found merit in the argument that the applicants were convicted on four different and distinct sets of purely circumstantial facts, with no evidence of a common intention, and that the State conceded the applications.
The court noted there was no evidence that the four applicants who shared a table with the deceased laced his drink with poison; that this was inconsistent with the trial court's finding that a waitress had access to the drink; and that a third version, that the 6th applicant bought and handed the beer to the deceased, was also in play. There was no evidence of a common intention to kill. With the State conceding and arguable substantial legal points raised on circumstantial evidence and common intention, bail was warranted.
Legal principles established
#- Bail pending appeal before the Court of Appeal is discretionary and requires demonstration of exceptional or unusual circumstances or overwhelming chances of success on appeal; a convicted person has lost the constitutional presumption of innocence.
- A person convicted by a competent court bears the burden of showing that the conviction was wrong, and bail pending appeal will only be granted in rare and exceptional circumstances.
Court orders
#- 1.The applications dated 18th July 2024, 2nd July 2024, 15th July 2024, 31st July 2024 and 25th July 2024 are allowed as prayed
- 2.Each applicant shall be released on a bond of Kenya Shillings one million (Ksh 1,000,000.00) with one surety of like amount
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
- On appeal from
- High Court of Kenya
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Rule 5(2)(a) of the Court of Appeal Rules; Section 379(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code; Article 49 of the Constitution
- Consolidated with
- Criminal Application No. E255 of 2024, Criminal Application No. E264 of 2024, Criminal Application No. E267 of 2024, Criminal Application No. E273 of 2024
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
The upshot is that the applications dated 18th July 2024, 2nd July 2024, 15th July 2024, 31st July 2024 and 25th July 2024 respectively are hereby allowed as prayed. Each applicant shall be released on a bond of Kenya Shillings one million (Ksh 1,000,000.00) with one surety of like amount.
bail pending appeal will only be granted in rare and exceptional circumstances
If it appears prima facie from the totality of the circumstances that the appeal is likely to be successful on account of some substantial point of law to be urged and that the sentence or substantial part of it will have been served by the time the appeal is heard, conditions for granting bail will exist
Section 49 of the Constitution creates entitlement to bail pending appeal, on the basis of presumption of innocence until proven guilty, which presumption stops once there is a valid conviction.
there was no evidence that the applicants hatched a common intention, before or during the commission of the alleged crime, to kill the deceased
Issues in the judgment
#The reproduced text of paragraph 30 is visibly garbled and appears to interleave the court's own reasoning with the quoted passage from Epungure, making the boundary between quotation and holding unclear.
Portions of counsel's submissions (notably for the 5th applicant) are corrupted in the source text, obscuring the exact arguments made.
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Andika alias Lumba & 5 others v Republic (Criminal Appeal (Application) E247, E255, E264, E267 & E273 of 2024 (Consolidated)) [2025] KECA 1205 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Criminal Appeal (Application) No. E247 of 2024 (Lead file), consolidated with Criminal Applications Nos. E255 of 2024, E264 of 2024, E267 of 2024 and E273 of 2024. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2025/1205/eng@2025-07-04
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.