Case ID:160424

John Onyango Oyatta v Republic [2020] eKLR

Case Metadata

Case Number:

Petition 64 of 2019

Parties:

John Onyango Oyatta v Republic

Date Delivered:

22 May 2020

Case Class:

Criminal

Court:

High Court at Kisii

Case Action:

Judgment

Judge(s):

Rose Edwina Atieno Ougo

Citation:

John Onyango Oyatta v Republic [2020] eKLR

Advocates:

Mr. Otieno Senior State Counsel Office of the DPP

Court Division:

Criminal

County:

Kisii

Advocates:

Mr. Otieno Senior State Counsel Office of the DPP

History Advocates:

One party or some parties represented

Disclaimer:

The information contained in the above segment is not part of the judicial opinion delivered by the Court. The metadata has been prepared by Kenya Law as a guide in understanding the subject of the judicial opinion. Kenya Law makes no warranties as to the comprehensiveness or accuracy of the information

REPUBLIC OF KENYA

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA

AT KISII

PETITION NO. 64 OF 2019

IN THE MATTER OF ARTICLES 22(1) OF THE CONSTITUTION

AND

IN THE MATTER OF ARTICLES 23,25(A), (C), 27(1) (2), 28, 20(1), 50 (2) (Q), 19 (1) (2), 165 OF THE CONSTITUTION

AND

IN THE MATTER OF SECTION 296(2) OF THE PENAL CODE

BETWEEN

JOHN ONYANGO OYATTA...........................PETITIONER

VERSUS

REPUBLIC....................................................RESPONDENT

JUDGMENT

1.

By a petition filed on the 29

th

May 2019

John Onyango Oyatta

(‘the petitioner’) seeks resentencing. The petitioner was first convicted by SRM Oyugi’s Court and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in April 2002. His appeal was dismissed by the High Court in February 2003. The conviction and sentenced were affirmed. He appealed to the Court of Appeal where he was sentenced to death. This sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the President in 2009.

2.

The petitioner claims that he has been in custody for the last 16 years since his arrest and that based on the Supreme Court ruling made on the 14.12.2017 the death sentence was declared unconstitutional and degrading hence his application.

3.

The application was not opposed. Mr. Otieno for the DPP submitted that the court can resentence the petitioner.

The Supreme Court in the decision of

Francis Muruatetu vs R Pet. No.15 of 2015 &another

declared the death sentence to be unconstitutional.

In the case of

Jared Koita Injiri v Republic [2019] eKLR

the Court of Appeal held that;

“In this case the appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment on the basis of mandatory sentence stipulated by section 8(1) of the Sexual Offences Act, and if the reasoning in the Supreme Case was applied to this provision it too should be considered unconstitutional on the same basis”.

Bearing in mind the Supreme decision and the Court of Appeal decision cited on this Ruling I am of the view that I can resentence the petitioner.

I have considered the facts of the case and period spent by the applicant in remand and jail and I resentence the applicant John

Onyango Oyatta

to a period of

20(twenty) years imprisonment

from the date of sentence by the trial court 16

th

April 2002.

Dated

,

signed

and

delivered via Zoom

(in line with the Practice Directions dated 17

th

April 2020) this 22

nd

day

of

May 2020

.

R.E.OUGO

JUDGE

In the presence of;

John Onyango Oyatta /Petitioner

Mr. Otieno Senior State Counsel Office of the DPP

Rael Court Assistant