CRIMINAL REVISION NO. E520 OF 2025
JAMES WANJALA MULIRO………………….….……………APPLICANT
VERSUS
REPUBLIC.…………………………………………………………………ODPP
Ruling
1. The applicant James Wanjala Muliro was charged and convicted of the offence of robbery with violence contrary to section 296(2) and attempted robbery with violence contrary to section 297(2) of the Penal Code in Bungoma CM CR Case No. 2586 of 2007. He was sentenced to suffer death on the first count. Subsequent appeals in Bungoma HCCRA No. 02 of 2009 and Eldoret Court of Appeal CR A No. 272 of 2009 were dismissed. The applicant’s death sentence was later commuted to life sentence by the President of the Republic of Kenya.
2. Th Applicant has now moved this court seeking a declaration that life sentence is unconstitutional and that he is entitled to a lesser sentence pursuant to the provisions of article 50(2)(4) and (9) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010.
3. The applicant also craves that the provisions of section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code be invoked in his favour.
4. The respondent did not oppose this application, albeit served.
ANALYSIS AND DETERMINATION
5. The applicant herein has moved this court by way of a revision. It is his case that precedents have held that life imprisonment is unconstitutional. He has cited the case Manyeso vs Republic (Criminal Appeal 12 of 2021) (2023) KECA 827 (KLR) (7th July 2023) Judgement and Mombasa Constitutional Petition No. 5 of 2022 as consolidated with Petition No. 6 of 2022: Shaban Salim Ramadhan & Others vs Republic where the courts respectively declared the life sentence and the mandatory death sentence for the offense of robbery with violence unconstitutional.
6. The Applicant posits that he has so far been in lawful custody for over 20 years and that he has been sufficiently punished, is remorseful and thus deserving a review of his sentence to a lesser one.
7. I have duly considered the application herein and the affidavit in support thereof and I do find that the applicant was first arraigned in court in 2009 wherefore his assertion that he has been in lawful custody for over 20 years is false.
8. It is indeed true that several judicial pronouncements have declared life sentence unconstitutional. I thus review the applicant’s sentence from life sentence to 45 years custodial term. This sentence has duly factored in any pre-trial term served pursuant to the provisions of section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
9. This file is hereby marked as closed.
Delivered, Signed, and Dated at Bungoma this 22nd day of January 2026.
M. S. Shariff
Judge
JAMES WANJALA MULIRO………………….….……………APPLICANT
VERSUS
REPUBLIC.…………………………………………………………………ODPP
Ruling
1. The applicant James Wanjala Muliro was charged and convicted of the offence of robbery with violence contrary to section 296(2) and attempted robbery with violence contrary to section 297(2) of the Penal Code in Bungoma CM CR Case No. 2586 of 2007. He was sentenced to suffer death on the first count. Subsequent appeals in Bungoma HCCRA No. 02 of 2009 and Eldoret Court of Appeal CR A No. 272 of 2009 were dismissed. The applicant’s death sentence was later commuted to life sentence by the President of the Republic of Kenya.
2. Th Applicant has now moved this court seeking a declaration that life sentence is unconstitutional and that he is entitled to a lesser sentence pursuant to the provisions of article 50(2)(4) and (9) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010.
3. The applicant also craves that the provisions of section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code be invoked in his favour.
4. The respondent did not oppose this application, albeit served.
ANALYSIS AND DETERMINATION
5. The applicant herein has moved this court by way of a revision. It is his case that precedents have held that life imprisonment is unconstitutional. He has cited the case Manyeso vs Republic (Criminal Appeal 12 of 2021) (2023) KECA 827 (KLR) (7th July 2023) Judgement and Mombasa Constitutional Petition No. 5 of 2022 as consolidated with Petition No. 6 of 2022: Shaban Salim Ramadhan & Others vs Republic where the courts respectively declared the life sentence and the mandatory death sentence for the offense of robbery with violence unconstitutional.
6. The Applicant posits that he has so far been in lawful custody for over 20 years and that he has been sufficiently punished, is remorseful and thus deserving a review of his sentence to a lesser one.
7. I have duly considered the application herein and the affidavit in support thereof and I do find that the applicant was first arraigned in court in 2009 wherefore his assertion that he has been in lawful custody for over 20 years is false.
8. It is indeed true that several judicial pronouncements have declared life sentence unconstitutional. I thus review the applicant’s sentence from life sentence to 45 years custodial term. This sentence has duly factored in any pre-trial term served pursuant to the provisions of section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
9. This file is hereby marked as closed.
Delivered, Signed, and Dated at Bungoma this 22nd day of January 2026.
M. S. Shariff
Judge