https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/kehc/2026/11501

**REPUBLIC OF KENYA.** **IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT LODWAR.** **CRIMINAL MISC. APPLICATION NO. E016 OF 2024.** **EDUPUR LOPEKAN..........................................................................APPLICANT** **VERSUS** **REPUBLIC........................................................................................RESPONDENT** **RULING.** 1. The applicant is approaching the court for the second time and seeking that the court considers revising his sentence of imprisonment for a term of 10 years into a non-custodial sentence. 2. The first application for revision was in Lodwar HC.MISC. CRI. Application No. E028 of 2023. That Application was heard on the merit and by its ruling of 22.10.2023 the sentence was revised in terms of Section 333(2) to be computed for the 20.09.2020, being the day he was arrested and placed into custody. 3. In the current application, he pleads that the remainder of the term computed to be about 10 months be served on non-custodial sentence pursuant to Section 4 of Probation of offenders Act. 4. The court called for a Probation officers report in that regard and there is a report dated17.07.2026 recommending that the Applicant be placed under a Community Service Order at **Kangalita assistant chief’s office** for a period of Ten (10) months, subject to the supervision of the Probation and Aftercare Service. 5. While the offence for which the applicant was tried and convicted is not a minor one but gave, the court appreciates that the period already served in prison is long enough to achieve reform as a core object of criminal justice. The sentence imposed on him was not purely retributive and deterrent but equally intended to let him appreciate that crime is abhorable and to give him time to reform. That appears to have been achieved when the probation report says he has acquired the skills of making soap and maintained high level discipline while in prison. 6. That disclosure is appreciated by the court to have achieved the pillar of the Judiciary blueprint of Social Transformation through Access of Justice, focused on criminal justice and targets to administer criminal justice and seeks to achieve rehabilitation, empowerment and social justice. 7. The blueprint further underscores the constitutional principles that once convicted and detained persons retain their human rights and fundamental freedoms save for those that are incompatible with lawful detention. In that right, there is the need to apply the law uniformly and equally to every detained person pursuant to a conviction. 8. The court reads that to be underscored in the circular by the Chief Justice on decongestion of prisons dated 13.3.2024, at paragraph 5 when the Chief justice writes; **“...conduct sentence reviews for convicted prisoners who are either serving sentences of less than three years or those serving longer sentences but have a balance of three years and below to serve.”** 1. That circular leave no doubt that the yardstick is the remainder of the sentence not the office for which one was convicted. The court has discretion to revise sentences for every convict whose remainder of term is less than 3 years. 2. The court therefore revises the applicant’s sentence and direct that he shall serve the remainder of his term, approximated at 10 months, on community service order at the offices of the Assistant Chief, Kangalita Sub-location. **Dated, Signed and Delivered at Lodwar** this27th **day of** July**, 2026** **Patrick J.O. Otieno** **Judge**