1. The Accused herein is charged with the offence of Murder contrary to Section 203 as Read with Section 204 of the Pedal Code. On the date of plea, he pleaded Not Guilty to the charge. Subsequently, he entered into a Plea Bargain Agreement with the Prosecution and the charge was reduced from Murder to Manslaughter contrary to Section 202 as read with Section 205 of the Penal Code to which reduced charge he pleaded Guilty. Before passing sentence, the court directed that a pre-sentence report be availed by the Probation Department. The same dated 27th May 2025 has been availed and I have perused it.
2. I note from that Report that even as it proposes a three-year probation sentence for the accused, what is apparent from the said Report is that a lot of loose ends in the reconciliation efforts have not yet been tied up for reasons that save for the fact that the family of the accused contributed Ks. 100,000/- towards the burial arrangements of the deceased, the Report states that the said family has thereafter been elusive on the further demands made by the family of the deceased. That this has left this family of the deceased feeling very resentful over the death of their son notwithstanding the Plea Bargain Agreement.
3. It should be noted that at the end of all this exercise, the sentence to be meted out is solely at the discretion of the court. This is because the court is not obligated to go by the recommendations made in the pre-sentence report submitted by the Probation Officer or the sentence proposed by the parties in the agreement. The ultimate objective of the court is to ensure that justice is done and so the sentence that it will ultimately mete out when all is said and done will be aimed towards ensuring that the ends of justice in this case are met.
4. This will be determined based on the court’s view on whether the negotiations that have led to the Plea Bargain Agreement has brought an honest and true reconciliation to both parties and that the situation is not such that one side has leveraged on the agreement so as to unfairly benefit from to the same at the expense of and to the disadvantage of the other side that is left feeling shortchanged as the case seems to be at the moment based on the findings in the pre-sentence Report.
5. This being the case, and in light of the fact that the accused is a minor aged 16 years, given the circumstances under which the offence occurred, the court now hereby directs that the prosecution and the defense facilitate a further meeting of the two families together with the elders involved in the negotiation and reconciliation efforts to ensure that a well-considered, reasonable, fair and just compromise and especially to the family of the deceased herein is reached.
6. The parties are given 45 days to do so and whatever decision will have been reached, a 2nd pre-sentence report based on this decision is to be filed on or before 15th September 2025. The matter is to be mentioned at Iten High Court on 1st October 2025 for further orders.
Read Dated and Signed at ELDORET on 9th July 2025
2. I note from that Report that even as it proposes a three-year probation sentence for the accused, what is apparent from the said Report is that a lot of loose ends in the reconciliation efforts have not yet been tied up for reasons that save for the fact that the family of the accused contributed Ks. 100,000/- towards the burial arrangements of the deceased, the Report states that the said family has thereafter been elusive on the further demands made by the family of the deceased. That this has left this family of the deceased feeling very resentful over the death of their son notwithstanding the Plea Bargain Agreement.
3. It should be noted that at the end of all this exercise, the sentence to be meted out is solely at the discretion of the court. This is because the court is not obligated to go by the recommendations made in the pre-sentence report submitted by the Probation Officer or the sentence proposed by the parties in the agreement. The ultimate objective of the court is to ensure that justice is done and so the sentence that it will ultimately mete out when all is said and done will be aimed towards ensuring that the ends of justice in this case are met.
4. This will be determined based on the court’s view on whether the negotiations that have led to the Plea Bargain Agreement has brought an honest and true reconciliation to both parties and that the situation is not such that one side has leveraged on the agreement so as to unfairly benefit from to the same at the expense of and to the disadvantage of the other side that is left feeling shortchanged as the case seems to be at the moment based on the findings in the pre-sentence Report.
5. This being the case, and in light of the fact that the accused is a minor aged 16 years, given the circumstances under which the offence occurred, the court now hereby directs that the prosecution and the defense facilitate a further meeting of the two families together with the elders involved in the negotiation and reconciliation efforts to ensure that a well-considered, reasonable, fair and just compromise and especially to the family of the deceased herein is reached.
6. The parties are given 45 days to do so and whatever decision will have been reached, a 2nd pre-sentence report based on this decision is to be filed on or before 15th September 2025. The matter is to be mentioned at Iten High Court on 1st October 2025 for further orders.
Read Dated and Signed at ELDORET on 9th July 2025