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The High Court at Kerugoya held that the prosecution had not established a prima facie case in a murder charge, and acquitted the accused at case-to-answer stage.
No-case-to-answer ruling in a murder charge: the High Court found the circumstantial evidence too weak to link Cecilia Maitha Nyaga to the killing.
Republic v Riungu & another (Criminal Appeal E146 of 2025) [2026] KEHC 13089 (KLR) (25 August 2026) (Judgment)
The Court held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the respondents were servants of the complainant, that the cement belonged to the complainant and came into the respondents’ possession through their employment, and that the cement was dishonestly appropriated. The forensic audit, documentary records, testimony of directors, drivers and store personnel, and the respondents’ control over accounting and transport functions formed a coherent circumstantial chain. The failure to call the investigating officer did not create a fatal evidential gap. The trial court therefore e…
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Republic v Otieno alias Otis (Criminal Case 61 of 2023) [2026] KEHC 13131 (KLR) (25 August 2026) (Judgment)
The court found that the deceased died after a confrontation in which the accused participated and struck him, but the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused acted with malice aforethought. The spontaneous drunken nature of the confrontation, the absence of a recovered weapon, and the evidence of substantial intoxication left reasonable doubt on the mental element for murder. The proper conviction was therefore manslaughter as a lesser cognate offence.
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Chestit & 2 others v Republic (Criminal Appeal E053, E065 & E066 of 2026 (Consolidated)) [2026] KEHC 13084 (KLR) (25 August 2026) (Judgment)
The convictions were unsafe because the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that each appellant knowingly conveyed the heroin. For Lennox and Alfric, the search and recovery evidence was compromised by the absence of a contemporaneous inventory, delayed labelling and photographing, contradictory testimony on who recovered and marked the exhibits, and failure to call material witnesses. For Kenneth, no narcotics were recovered from him and the CCTV footage was not self-identifying; no independent evidence proved he was the person depicted or that he facilitated conveyance of th…
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Republic v Kibunja & 3 others (Criminal Case E002 of 2022) [2026] KEHC 13050 (KLR) (20 August 2026) (Judgment)
The court held that the prosecution proved murder beyond reasonable doubt only against the 1st accused. The deceased’s death and its unlawful cause were established by eyewitness and medical evidence, and the 1st accused’s recent possession of the deceased’s phone, SIM card and voter’s card, together with his conduct in using the phone to solicit money, completed an incriminating circumstantial chain. By contrast, the case against the 2nd, 3rd and 4th accused rested on uncorroborated allegations by the 1st accused and suspicion only; no independent evidence, forensic material, or recorded con…
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Olumula v Republic (Criminal Appeal E005 of 2026) [2026] KEHC 13052 (KLR) (20 August 2026) (Judgment)
The appeal failed because, despite the trial court’s procedural mischaracterisation of the intermediary evidence, the record as a whole still proved beyond reasonable doubt that the complainant was a child, that she suffered penetrative injury, and that the appellant—who was well known to the family and whose account of the jembe was materially consistent with the prosecution case—was the perpetrator. The contradictions did not undermine the substance of the prosecution case, and the appellant’s defence did not dislodge the prosecution evidence.
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Republic v Nyongesa & another (Criminal Case E247 of 2025) [2026] KEMC 533 (KLR) (20 August 2026) (Judgment)
The prosecution proved only that a firearm and ammunition were recovered during a police operation. It failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that either accused knowingly possessed them, whether actually, constructively, or jointly, and also failed to prove that the items were intended to be used in a manner prejudicial to public order. The accused were therefore entitled to acquittal.
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The High Court acquitted Derrick Mayabi Makutsa alias Dero of murder, finding the deceased’s death proved but the circumstantial case too weak to fix him with the killing.
Mutunga v Republic (Criminal Appeal E015 of 2025) [2026] KEHC 12951 (KLR) (18 August 2026) (Judgment)
The conviction was upheld because the robbery with violence ingredients were clearly proved, and the appellant was linked to the offence by cogent circumstantial evidence: a Ceska pistol recovered from him was forensically matched to the spent cartridges and bullets recovered from the scene and the victims. The alleged contradictions on serial number and timing of recovery were minor and did not displace the prosecution case. Since the chain of circumstantial evidence remained intact and the appellant offered no explanation, the appeal failed.
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