The Court of Appeal made a groundbreaking decision by declaring life sentence unconstitutional, hence abolishing it.
This ruling has the potential to impact previous criminal cases, setting a significant legal precedent.
Justices Pauline Nyamweya, Jessie Lesiit, and George Odunga delivered this landmark ruling while presiding over the case of Julius Kitsao Manyeso versus the Republic in 2023.
The three judges stated that it was unfair to eliminate the death penalty only to subject convicts to lifetime incarceration.
They argued that a life sentence contradicts the purpose of conviction, which is to rehabilitate offenders.
Guided by a previous holding of the Supreme Court of Kenya, the bench exercised its discretion to interfere with the unconstitutional sentence.
In the case, Julius Kitsao had received a life sentence from a magistrate court for allegedly defiling a minor.
He challenged the sentence, however, his attempts to seek legal remedy at the High Court were unsuccessful.
In a final attempt to secure his freedom, Kitsao appealed his case to the Court of Appeal.
The bench ruled that imprisonment serves the purposes of deterrence, rehabilitation, denouncement, or retribution for the committed offense.
Therefore, imposing a life sentence on Kitsao deviated from the intended objectives of sentence.
The Court of Appeal observed that a magistrate court’s imposition of a life sentence on Kitsao was akin to imposing a prohibited death penalty.
The bench concluded that practically speaking, both life and death sentences appeared to carry the same weight in terms of execution.
Consequently, Kitsao was ordered to serve a sentence of 40 years, starting from the date of his conviction, to fulfill the goals of deterrence and rehabilitation.
In reaching their judgment, the three-judge bench also relied on the notable case of Francis Karioko Muruatetu versus the Republic.
In a 2021 Supreme Court ruling, it was determined that sentencing Muruatetu to life imprisonment for murder contradicted the progressive Bill of Rights in Kenya’s 2010 Constitution and undermined the rule of law.
The Supreme Court affirmed a 2017 High Court ruling that deemed the mandatory death penalty for murder, which was imposed on Muruatetu, unconstitutional.
