Chesori v Republic (Criminal Application E056 of 2024) [2025] KECA 1982 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Court of Appeal confirmed that once it decides a second appeal, it cannot reopen the matter—every litigant has a finite right of appeal.
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 applicant should be granted extension of time to lodge a further appeal to the Court of Appeal after exhausting his right of appeal
Key legal issues
#Whether extension of time under Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Rules may be granted where the applicant has exhausted his right of appeal
It may not. A litigant who has been through the first appeal, the second appeal, and a subsequent constitutional petition has exhausted the right of appeal, and the Court cannot entertain any further appeal.
The applicant was convicted and sentenced to death for robbery with violence; his first appeal was dismissed by the High Court in 2005 and his second appeal by the Court of Appeal in 2009. He then filed a constitutional petition seeking revision of sentence, dismissed in 2022. The Court agreed with the DPP that the right of appeal was exhausted and that the Court, having rendered its decision, was functus officio and unable to entertain further appeals.
Legal principles established
#- Once the Court of Appeal has rendered its decision on a second appeal, it becomes functus officio and cannot entertain any further appeals or applications by the same litigant in the same matter.
Court orders
#- 1.The application for extension of time is struck out for lack of merit
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
- On appeal from
- High Court of Kenya at Bungoma
- Constitutional Petition No. 85 of 2019
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Rules (application for extension of time to lodge appeal out of time)
Relief refused
#Extension of time to lodge appeal out of time to the Court of Appeal
The applicant has exhausted his right of appeal and the Court, having rendered its decision on the second appeal, became functus officio and cannot entertain any further appeals
Costs
No costs order is recorded in the judgment
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.
This Court agrees with the DPP that the applicant has exhausted his right of appeal.
Once this Court rendered its decision on the second appeal lodged by the appellant to this Court, it became functus oficio. It cannot entertain any further appeals to this Court by the applicant. The application has no merit. It is hereby struck out.
Issues in the judgment
#The judgment renders 'functus officio' as 'functus oficio' in the quoted passage.
The case number of the present application and the neutral citation are not stated in the judgment.
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Chesori v Republic (Criminal Application E056 of 2024) [2025] KECA 1982 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Not stated in the judgment. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2025/1982/eng@2025-11-20
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.