Kibet alias Baba Chucky v Republic (Revision Case E086 of 2025) [2025] KEHC 19459 (KLR) (14 November 2025) (Ruling) Neutral citation: [2025] KEHC 19459 (KLR) REPUBLIC OF KENYA IN THE HIGH COURT AT HOMA BAY REVISION CASE E086 OF 2025 PJO OTIENO, J NOVEMBER 14, 2025 BETWEEN WILFRED ONDIEKI KIBET ALIAS BABA CHUCKY ....................... APPLICANT AND REPUBLIC ............................................................................................ RESPONDENT RULING 1. The lower court file has been placed before this Court pursuant to a Notice of Motion filed on 17/6/2025. By the said application, the Applicant seeks to be accorded the statutory benefit conferred under Article 50(2)(p) of the Constitution. Such applications are, in essence, treated by the Court as seeking revision of the trial court’s orders pursuant to Sections 362 and 364 of the Criminal Procedure Code. 2. Upon perusal of the trial court record, it is evident that the Applicant was charged with the ofience of defilement contrary to Section 8(1) as read with Section 8(2) of the Sexual Offences Act No. 3 of 2006. The particulars of the charge were that the Applicant defiled a child aged ten (10) years. Under Section 8(2) of the Act, the prescribed sentence for defilement of a child aged eleven (11) years or below is imprisonment for life upon conviction. 3. The prescribed sentence under the said provision is couched in mandatory terms. The present application is anchored on Article 50(2)(p) of the Constitution, which accords an accused person the right to benefit from the least severe of the prescribed punishments for an ofience, if the punishment for that ofience has been varied between the time the ofience was committed and the time of sentencing. The Court notes that the relevant provisions of the Sexual Offences Act, under which the Applicant was charged, came into force on 21st July 2006, whereas the ofience in question was alleged to have been committed on the 19th and 20th days of 2019. https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/kehc/2025/19459/eng@2025-11-14 1
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4. Having considered the record and the applicable law, the Court finds that the sentence imposed upon the Applicant was within the confines of the law. There has been no variation of the prescribed punishment between the date of the ofience and the date of sentencing to warrant invocation of Article 50(2)(p) of the Constitution. Consequently, the application is devoid of merit and fails. 5. This decision is informed and guided by the decision of the Supreme Court of Kenya in Republic v Joshua Gichuki Mwangi, Petition No. E018 of 2023 in which the court observed that the sentences under Sexual Offences Act are legal and constitutional with no room for the courts to impose lesser sentences. 6. It is so ordered. 7. The file is hereby ordered closed. DATED, SIGNED AND DELIVERED THIS 14TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2025. PATRICK J O OTIENO JUDGE https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/kehc/2025/19459/eng@2025-11-14 2
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