[2020] KEHC 6046 (KLR)
The court exercised its revisionary jurisdiction under section 364 of the Criminal Procedure Code, guided by the NCAJ's COVID-19 decongestion measures, to reduce the appellant's sentence to the period already served. The decision was based on the need to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in prisons and to...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2020] KEHC 6046 (KLR)
- Parties
- Appellant: Gerald Kiptoo Chelal; Respondent: Republic
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Kabarnet
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Criminal Revision 17 of 2020
- Procedural Posture
- Criminal Revision / Revision Order
- Outcome
- sentence revised; appellant to be released unless otherwise lawfully held
- Judges
- EM Muriithi
- Legal Topics
- Sentence Revision, Prison Decongestion, Covid 19 Measures
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Gerald Kiptoo Chelal
Appellant
Republic
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Criminal Revision / Revision Order
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the sentence imposed on the appellant should be revised in light of the NCAJ guidelines for decongestion of prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ratio Decidendi
The court exercised its revisionary jurisdiction under section 364 of the Criminal Procedure Code, guided by the NCAJ's COVID-19 decongestion measures, to reduce the appellant's sentence to the period already served. The decision was based on the need to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in prisons and to comply with national directives aimed at reducing prison populations during the pandemic. The court found that the appellant was a deserving case for sentence revision and ordered his immediate release unless otherwise lawfully held.
Court Disposition
sentence revised; appellant to be released unless otherwise lawfully held
Orders
- The appellant's sentence is revised to the period already served.
- The appellant shall be released from custody forthwith unless otherwise lawfully held.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
20 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA
AT KABARNET
H.C.C.R. REV. NO. 17 OF 2020
GERALD KIPTOO CHELAL......................................................APPELLANT
VERSUS
REPUBLIC..................................................................................RESPONDENT
REVISION ORDER
1. The Court is mindful of the direction of the Chief Justice as part of the measures adopted by National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) under its Plan to combat the threat of Corona Virus Disease - 2019 (COVID-2019) entitled Administrative and Contingency Management Plan to Mitigate COVID-19 in Kenya’s Justice Sectorissued on the 15th March 2020, in relevant part on decongestion of prisons as follows:
“8. Judges in all stations will in the meantime review the deserving cases already identified by Prison Authorities and issue appropriate revision orders in an effort to decongest the prisons….”
2. In exercise of the revisionary powers of the High Court and, having considered the sentence, and in accordance with the NACJ guidelines for decongestion of prisons, the court finds it appropriate pursuant to section 364 of the Criminal Procedure Code to revise the sentence imposed on the appellant and reduce it to a sentence of imprisonment for the period already served so that the appellant may forthwith be released from custody, in furtherance of the NCAJ’s decongestion measures.
Orders
3. There shall, therefore, be an order of the court directing the release of the appellant from custody, unless he is otherwise lawfully held.
Order accordingly.
DATED AND DELIVERED THIS 1ST DAY OF APRIL 2020.
EDWARD M. MURIITHI
JUDGE
Appearances:
Appellant in person.
Ms. Kitilit, Prosecution Counsel for the Respondent.