[2014] KEHC 1910 (KLR)
The court found that the appellant, having pleaded guilty at the outset, being a first offender, and a young man without prior exposure, warranted consideration in sentencing. There was no evidence of a propensity to reoffend. The trial court's sentence of fifteen years was deemed excessive given these mitigating...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2014] KEHC 1910 (KLR)
- Parties
- Appellant: Simon Chepchol Chemai; Respondent: Republic
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Machakos
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Criminal Appeal 117 of 2005
- Procedural Posture
- Criminal Appeal / Judgment
- Outcome
- Sentence reduced on appeal.
- Judges
- LN Mutende
- Legal Topics
- Rape Offence, Sentencing Principles, Plea of Guilty, Mitigation, Penal Code Section 140
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Simon Chepchol Chemai
Appellant
Republic
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Criminal Appeal / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the sentence of fifteen years imprisonment for rape was excessive in the circumstances of the case.
- 2 Whether the trial court exercised its discretion on sentencing properly.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the appellant, having pleaded guilty at the outset, being a first offender, and a young man without prior exposure, warranted consideration in sentencing. There was no evidence of a propensity to reoffend. The trial court's sentence of fifteen years was deemed excessive given these mitigating factors and the statutory minimum. The High Court exercised its discretion to set aside the fifteen-year sentence and substitute it with the minimum ten-year sentence, aligning with current legal standards and the appellant's circumstances.
Court Disposition
Sentence reduced on appeal.
Orders
- The sentence of fifteen years imprisonment is set aside and substituted with a sentence of ten years imprisonment.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
21 paragraphs
No. 424/14
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MACHAKOS
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 117 OF 2005
SIMON CHEPCHOL CHEMAI………………………….........….APPELLANT
VERSUS
REPUBLIC …………………………………………………….RESPONDENT
(Being an appeal from the original conviction and sentence in Machakos Chief Magistrate’s Criminal Case No. 2784 of 2005 by Hon. H.A Omondi , CM 18/11/2005)
JUDGMENT
The appellant, Simon Chepchol Chemai was charged with the offence of rape contrary to Section 140 of the Penal Code. He was convicted on his own pleas of guilty and sentenced to serve fifteen (15) years imprisonment.
Now he mitigates on sentence on grounds that ;-
He is an orphan and the sole breadwinner of his family
He suffers from ill-health
He has reformed
According to Section 140 of the Penal Code (now repealed) a person who was found guilty of the offence of rape was liable to imprisonment for life. Today the minimum prescribed sentence for such an offence is ten (10) years imprisonment.
It has been held by the Court of Appeal that a sentence must depend on facts of its own particular case. An appellate court should not interfere with the discretion which the trial court has exercised as to sentence unless it is evident that it overlooked some material factor, took into account some immaterial factor, acted on wrong principles of the law or the sentence was manifestly excessive in the circumstances of the case. ( See Bernard Kimani Gacheru versus Republic – Criminal Appeal No. 188/2000.
In this case the appellant pleaded guilty right at the outset. He was a first offender, a young man without any exposure. All these were factors to be considered.
There being nothing to show that the appellant has the propensity of committing a similar offence in future, I do set aside the sentence of fifteen (15) years and substitute it with one for ten (10) years. It is so ordered.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at MACHAKOS this 30TH day of OCTOBER, 2014.
L.N. MUTENDE
JUDGE