1. The applicant Stephen Oketch was charged and convicted for the offence of robbery with violence contrary to Section 296(2) of the Penal Code in Mombasa CMC Cr. C. No. 244 of 2007. He was sentenced to suffer death through a judgment delivered on 22.10.2007 by Hon. T. Mwangi (SRM).
2. The Applicant appealed the decision of the lower court in Mombasa High Court Criminal Appeal No. 179 of 2007 and subsequently in Mombasa Court of Appeal Criminal Appeal No. 33 of 2014 where vide a judgment delivered at Malindi on 2nd October 2014 where it was held that the appeal had no merit and it was dismissed.
3. The applicant now seeks that this court reviews his death sentence to a determinate one after considering his mitigating factors as follows: -
(a) That he has undergone several rehabilitative programs during his long stay in the penal institution.
(b) That he is a first offender.
(c) That he is aged 55 years and he is a family man of two (2) children, a jobless wife and an aged mother who is sick and dependent on him and now suffering due to his absence.
4. The Sentence Review Report by Mutisya Kioko, Mombasa Probation Officer and filed on 7th March 2024 was to the effect that the Applicant will require psychological counseling/debriefing to deal with the trauma as a result of the offence and stay in custody, reintegration/resettlement plans back to the community, and socio-economic empowerment to extend and sharpen the skills he has acquired in custody. The Probation Officer recommended that the Applicant may be considered for sentence review on lenient measures and that a probation order may be issued to help in reintegration.
5. This court has considered the sentence review report and hereby sets aside the life imprisonment which has been declared unconstitutional in the Court of Appeal case of Julius Kitsao Manyeso v Republic [2020] eKLR where it was held that imposition of a mandatory indeterminate life sentence, is an unjustifiable discrimination, unfair and repugnant to the principle of equality before the law under Article 27 of the Constitution.
6. To that end, life imprisonment is hereby set aside and substituted thereof with 30 years imprisonment to take effect from 22nd January 2007when the Applicant was first arraigned in court pursuant to Section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code. That upon completion of remainder of sentence, Applicant to be supervised for a further one year by probation officers to enable him reintegrate back to society.
Dated, signed and delivered in Open Court/online through MS TEAMS,
This 7th day of June 2024
2. The Applicant appealed the decision of the lower court in Mombasa High Court Criminal Appeal No. 179 of 2007 and subsequently in Mombasa Court of Appeal Criminal Appeal No. 33 of 2014 where vide a judgment delivered at Malindi on 2nd October 2014 where it was held that the appeal had no merit and it was dismissed.
3. The applicant now seeks that this court reviews his death sentence to a determinate one after considering his mitigating factors as follows: -
(a) That he has undergone several rehabilitative programs during his long stay in the penal institution.
(b) That he is a first offender.
(c) That he is aged 55 years and he is a family man of two (2) children, a jobless wife and an aged mother who is sick and dependent on him and now suffering due to his absence.
4. The Sentence Review Report by Mutisya Kioko, Mombasa Probation Officer and filed on 7th March 2024 was to the effect that the Applicant will require psychological counseling/debriefing to deal with the trauma as a result of the offence and stay in custody, reintegration/resettlement plans back to the community, and socio-economic empowerment to extend and sharpen the skills he has acquired in custody. The Probation Officer recommended that the Applicant may be considered for sentence review on lenient measures and that a probation order may be issued to help in reintegration.
5. This court has considered the sentence review report and hereby sets aside the life imprisonment which has been declared unconstitutional in the Court of Appeal case of Julius Kitsao Manyeso v Republic [2020] eKLR where it was held that imposition of a mandatory indeterminate life sentence, is an unjustifiable discrimination, unfair and repugnant to the principle of equality before the law under Article 27 of the Constitution.
6. To that end, life imprisonment is hereby set aside and substituted thereof with 30 years imprisonment to take effect from 22nd January 2007when the Applicant was first arraigned in court pursuant to Section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code. That upon completion of remainder of sentence, Applicant to be supervised for a further one year by probation officers to enable him reintegrate back to society.
Dated, signed and delivered in Open Court/online through MS TEAMS,
This 7th day of June 2024