Republic v Benard Kioko Muia

REPUBLIC OF KENYA IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MACHAKOS CRIMINAL REVISION NO. 24 OF 2015 REPUBLIC VERSUS BENARD KIOKO MUIA ………………..……………..……….. APPLICANT RULING ON REVISION 1. The SRMC Tawa Criminal Case No. 382/14 - Republic versus Bernard Kioko Muia was referred to the High Court for revision by the Ag. SRM Tawa Law Courts. 2. The Accused was charged with the offence of being in possession of alcoholic drinks contrary to section 27 (1) (b) as read with sub section 4 of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2010. The particulars of the offence were that on the 18th day of November 2014 at Kathini village, Kisau Location in Mbooni East District within Makueni County was found being in possession of alcoholic drinks namely Karubu to wit 20 litres without a licence. 3. The Accused pleaded guilty and was convicted and sentenced to a fine of Kshs.100,000/= in default five years imprisonment. 4. The default sentence is illegal. The default sentence should not have exceeded one year. Section 28 (2) of the Penal Code provides as follows: “In the absence of express provisions in any written law relating thereto, the term of imprisonment or detention under the Detention Camps Act ordered by a court in respect of the non-payment of any sum adjudged to be paid for costs under section 32 or compensation under section 31 or in respect of the non-payment of a fine or of any sum adjudged to be paid under the provisions of any written law shall be such term as in the opinion of the court will satisfy the justice of the case, but shall not exceed in any such case the maximum fixed by the following scaleAmount Maximum Period Not exceeding Sh.500 … … .. 14 days … 1 month Exceeding Sh.500 but not exceeding Sh.2,500 … … Exceeding Sh.2,500 but not exceeding Sh.15,000 … … … 3 months

page 1 of 2