Criminal law - defilement - defilement of a girl aged 12 years - accused convicted by a subordinate court and sentnced to life imprisonment - sentenced reduced to 25 years on first appeal - second appeal - Penal Code section 145(1)

Criminal Practice and Procedure - rights of an accused person - right to be brought to court within a reasonable time after arrest - accused person arraigned in court on a charge of defilement of a minor four days after his arrest - accused not having been brought to court within 24 hours after his arrest - the deprivation of a constitutional right is a matter of law and the Court cannot stop an appellant from raising it in his last appeal simply because it was not raised during the trial court or in the first appeal - prosecution may seek leave to be given time to show that the appellant had been brought to court as soon as was reasonably practicable - Constitution of Kenya section 72(3) - Criminal Procedure Code section 36

Evidence - medical evidence - sexual offence cases - evidence of a clinical officer - objection to the evidence on the ground that in law, the clinical officer had no authority to examine the complainant for purposes of prosecution - whether such objection was valid - court taking judicial notice that in Kenya, only a few medical facilities were manned by qualified doctors.

Criminal practice and procedure - appeal - first criminal appeal - authority of a single judge to hear such appeal - evidence - witnesses - failure by the prosecution to call the investigation officer - such failure would not affect the entire case if there was enough evidence upon which the court could have entered a conviction - Criminal Procedure Code section 359(1)

Criminal law - robbery with violence - second appeal against conviction and sentence of death - evidence - identification - whether the evidence of the identification of the appellant was reliable - test to be applied to identification evidence before it can form the basis for a conviction - identification parade - where identifying witnesses had seen the suspect within the police station before the identification parade - defence of alibi - an accused person who raises an alibi does not assume the burden of proving it - Penal Code section 296(2)       

 Sentencing - death sentence - where a person is convicted on more than one capital charge - proper practice is to sentence the person to death on only one count and to leave the others in abeyance, including any sentence of imprisonment on another charge.

Criminal Law - murder - five accused person convicted - minors ordered to be detained at the pleasure of the President and adult convicts sentenced to death - appeal - common intention - whether the appellants had a common intention to kill the deceased - whether the evidence of the identification of the appellants was sufficient - Penal Code section 21, 203, 204

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Criminal law - murder - two counts of murder - appeal against conviction and sentence of death - whether the conviction was supported by the evidence - whether the case had been poorly investigated - evidence - whether the trial court had wrongly admitted and relied on hearsay evidence - duty of a court hearing a first appeal - circumstantial evidence - test to be applied to such evidence in order for it to form a basis for a conviction - Penal Code section 203, 204

Criminal law - robbery with violence - second appeal against conviction and sentence of death - conviction on a plea of guilty to a capital offence - procedure and safeguards which a trial court should apply in entering such a conviction - whether the trial had been conducted in a language which the appellant did not understand - Constitution section 72(2)(b) - Penal Code section 296(2)

Criminal law - robbery with violence - second appeal against conviction and sentence of death - delay in trial - trial involving five witnesses lasting five years - prosecution delaying trial through numerous adjournments and applications - record of the trial not clear about the circumstances of the appellant's arrest - whether the evidence of the recognition of the appellant was reliable - whether the appeal should be allowed - Penal Code section 296(2)

Criminal law - robbery with violence - assault causing grevious bodily harm - second appeal against conviction and sentence of death - second appeal confined to matters of law - concurrent findings of the trial court and the first appellate court - evidence of recognition - whether the appellant had been properly identified and recognized as a robber - Penal Code section 251, 296(2)

Criminal law - attempted robbery with violence - unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition - second appeal against conviction and sentences - duty of the first appellate to re-evaluate the evidence and arrive at its own independent conclusion - whether the court had failed in its duty - whether the evidence of the identification of the appellant was reliable - Penal Code section 297(2) - Firearms Act section 4(2)(a)

Criminal law - rape - gang rape - second appeal against conviction and sentence of imprisonment for 20 years - whether the case against the appellant had been proved beyond reasonable doubt - evidence of recognition by a single witness - whether the trial court had failed to consider his defence of alibi - Penal Code section 140