Caselaw

REPUBLIC OF KENYA IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT ELDORET CORAM: D.S. MAJANJA J. CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 164 OF 2015 BETWEEN SOLOMON SAMBU KIRWA............................................APPELLANT AND REPUBLIC.......................................................................RESPONDENT (Being an appeal from the original conviction and sentence of Hon. C. Obulutsa, SPM dated 13th May 2015 at Eldoret Magistrate’s Court in Criminal Case No. 5161 of 2014) JUDGMENT 1. At the hearing of this appeal the appellant, SOLOMON SAMBU KIRWA, informed the Court that he was only pursuing the issue of sentence as he had been convicted and sentenced to death for the offence of robbery with violence contrary to section 296 (2) of the Penal Code (Chapter 63 of the Laws of Kenya). The particulars of the offence were that on 31 st July 2014 at Chepngoror Village in Eldoret East District within Uasin Gishu County, jointly with another person, he robbed ABRAHAM ROTICH of Kshs. 8,000/-, a Family Bank ATM Card and a Techno Cell phone all valued at Kshs. 13,040/- and immediately before the time of such robbery threatened to use violence against the said ABRAHAM ROTICH. 2. The mandatory death sentence was found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Francis Karioko Muruatetu & Another v Republic SCK Pet. No. 15 OF 2015 [2017] eKLR. The same principle was applied to the offence of robbery with violence under section 296(2) of the Penal Code by the Court of Appeal in William Okungu Kittiny v Republic KSM CA Criminal Appeal No. 56 of 2013 [2018]eKLR. I am therefore required to resentence the appellant afresh. 3. Having considered the circumstances of the case, I hereby affirm the conviction but quash the sentence of death and substitute it with a term of ten (10) years imprisonment from 4th August, 2014. DATED and DELIVERED at ELDORET this 24th day of April 2019. D.S. MAJANJA JUDGE Appellant in person. Ms Mokua, Prosecution Counsel, instructed by the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions for the respondent.