On a rare occasion, a High Court Judge overturned a Court of Appeal Judgement that upheld a death sentence imposed on a convict lifting the death sentence in its entirety.
Shah was convicted and sentenced to death in 2016 after a Magistrate Court ruled that the prosecution had proved its case against him for a robbery with violence.
He was dissatisfied with the decision, leading him to appeal at the High Court seeking to quash the sentence.
Unfortunately for him, after reviewing the case, the court decided to uphold the trial court’s judgment saying the learned Magistrate acted within the tenets’ of the Law in sentencing him.
It however ordered that Shah’s file be sent back to the trial court for resentencing.
Shah was not satisfied with the decision, prompting him to move to the Court of Appeal.
The court however dismissed his appeal and gave similar orders as the High Court; that Shah’s file be sent back to the trial court for resentencing.
The case was taken to the trial court, but to the convict’s surprise, the trial Magistrate ruled that she lacked jurisdiction to resentence him.
She stated that the Supreme Court judgment applied only to sentences of murder, under Sections 203 and 204 of the Penal Code.
The code states that “203:Any person who of malice aforethought causes death of another person by an unlawful act or omission is guilty of murder and 204: Any person who is convicted of murder shall be sentenced to death.”
Shah persisted in his search for Justice and in 2023, he filed for revision of the trial Magistrate’s decision at the High Court at Kiambu.
Judge Peter Mulwa stated that his court had jurisdiction to hear and determine the convict’s application.
The judge noted that sentencing should be done in accordance with the law, adding that the death sentence imposed on Shah was commuted to life imprisonment.
“The sentence imposed was the only mandatory sentence prescribed by the law,” he said.
Further, the judge noted that a 2017 Supreme Court judgment that had been highlighted by the earlier courts changed the law that imposed mandatory sentences on all convicts.
“The courts have the discretion to impose a less severe mandatory sentence. This court has the discretion to interfere with the sentence imposed on the applicant,” he said.
After reviewing the case, Judge Mulwa also took note of the time Shah spent in custody.
The man was arrested on October 4, 2015, and sentenced on November 21, 2016.
He was in prison for some seven years and nine months.
In his ruling, Judge Mulwa set aside the sentence imposed by the trial court back in 2016 and substituted it with 30 years in jail.
“In the circumstances therefore, I hereby set aside the sentence imposed by the trial court and affirmed by the High Court and the Court of Appeal (commuted to life imprisonment) and substitute the same with a prison term of 30 years,” he ruled.
“The period to run from the time of the applicant’s conviction on October 18, 2016.”
