[2024] KEHC 3916 (KLR)
The court found that the trial magistrate failed to comply with Section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code by not accounting for the period the applicant spent in remand custody prior to sentencing. The High Court held that this omission was an error and that the applicant was entitled to have his sentence...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2024] KEHC 3916 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: Jackton Opondo Odhiambo; Respondent: Republic
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Siaya
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Miscellaneous Criminal Application 98 of 2023
- Procedural Posture
- Miscellaneous Criminal Application / Sentence Review Ruling
- Outcome
- Application allowed; sentence revised to account for remand period.
- Judges
- DO Ogembo
- Legal Topics
- Sentence Revision, Remand Custody Credit, Application of Section 333 2, Attempted Murder, Sentencing Principles
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Jackton Opondo Odhiambo
Applicant
Republic
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Miscellaneous Criminal Application / Sentence Review Ruling
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicant is entitled to have the period spent in remand custody considered in the computation of his sentence.
- 2 Whether the trial magistrate erred by failing to account for the remand period as required by law.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the trial magistrate failed to comply with Section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code by not accounting for the period the applicant spent in remand custody prior to sentencing. The High Court held that this omission was an error and that the applicant was entitled to have his sentence revised to reflect the time already served in custody. Accordingly, the court ordered that the applicant's three-year sentence should run from the date he was first arraigned in court, thereby ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and upholding the principle that time spent in remand must be credited towards the sentence imposed.
Court Disposition
Application allowed; sentence revised to account for remand period.
Orders
- The applicant's sentence of three years imprisonment shall run from 26/4/2022, the date of first arraignment before court.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
21 paragraphs
Odhiambo v Republic (Miscellaneous Criminal Application 98 of 2023) [2024] KEHC 3916 (KLR) (18 April 2024) (Ruling)
Neutral citation: [2024] KEHC 3916 (KLR)
Republic of Kenya
In the High Court at Siaya
Miscellaneous Criminal Application 98 of 2023
DO Ogembo, J
April 18, 2024
Between
Jackton Opondo Odhiambo
Applicant
and
Republic
Respondent
(Being an Application for Sentence Review from Sentence in Ukwala Principal Magistrates Court Criminal Case No. E045 of 2022 by Hon. C. I. Ogutu Senior Resident Magistrate dated 28/9/2022)
Ruling
1. The Applicant, Jackton Opondo Odhiambo, by way of an Application dated 23/6/2023, seeks that his sentence be revised to account for the period he spent in remand custody. The prosecution has not offered any response to this application.
2. I have considered the record of proceedings of the lower court. Same show that the Applicant was charged, tried and convicted of the offence of attempted murder contrary to Section 220 (a) of the Penal Code.
3. He was sentenced to serve 3 years imprisonment. This was on 28/9/2022. The sentence proceedings do not indicate when the sentence would run from. Section 333 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code directs that the period that an accused person spends in custody ought to be accounted for in the sentence.
4. In this case, the Applicant had been in remand custody during his trial. The trial magistrate, however, did not account for this period in the sentence passed. The learned magistrate ought to have done this in satisfaction of the provisions of Section 333 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
5. I accordingly therefore find merit in this application of the Applicant for revision of his sentence. I allow the same and revise the sentence. I order that the Applicant serves a term of 3 years imprisonment as ordered by the trial court. This sentence shall run from 26/4/2022 the date when the applicant was first arraigned before court. It is so ordered.
DATED, SIGNED AND DELIVERED THIS 18TH DAY OF APRIL 2024. D. O. OGEMBOJUDGE18/4/2024CourtRuling read in Open Court in presence of Applicant and Mr. Baraza for State.D. O. OGEMBOJUDGE18/4/2024