Government and Policy

Life Imprisonment Sentence Is Unconstitutional And Unfair – Court Of Appeal

BY Getrude Mathayo · July 11, 2023 10:07 am

KEY POINTS

According to the three judges, the purpose of jailing a person is to either deter, rehabilitate, denounce, or retribute for the offense committed adding that it was unfair to abolish death sentences only to have convicts spend their whole life behind bars.

The Court of Appeal has declared a life imprisonment sentence unconstitutional in a ruling that could affect past criminal cases.

Justices Pauline Nyamweya, Jessie Lesiit, and George Odunga declared the ruling while hearing the case of Julius Kitsao Manyeso versus the Republic (2023).

However, they argued that a life sentence goes against the aim of conviction which is rehabilitating convicts

“We are equally guided by this holding by the Supreme Court of Kenya, and in the instant appeal, we are of the view that having found the sentence of life imprisonment to be unconstitutional, we have the discretion to interfere with the said sentence,” the bench ruled.

The judges were determining an appeal filed by Julius Kitsao against the state, who was imprisoned with a life sentence for allegedly defiling a minor, and his efforts to seek legal redress at the High Court failed.

In a last attempt to set himself free from the allegations, Kitsao filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, where the bench ruled that jailing a person is to deter, rehabilitate, denounce, or retribute for the offense committed.

As such, Kitsao being given a life sentence went against the purpose of issuing jail terms. The Court of Appeal noted that a magistrate court handing Kitsao a life sentence was akin to giving him an outlawed death sentence.

“For all practical purposes, in terms of execution of the sentences, life sentence, and death sentence seem to mean the same thing in this country,” the bench ruled.

The convict was ordered to serve a sentence of 40 years for deterrence and rehabilitation to run from the date of his conviction. The 3-judge bench, in its judgment, also relied on the famous Francis Karioko Muruatetu versus the Republic case.

“We accordingly set aside the sentence of life imprisonment imposed on the appellant and substitute therefor a sentence of 40 years in prison to run from the date of his conviction,” ruled the judges.

Justices Nyamweya, Lesiit, and Odunga argued that, for all practical purposes, in terms of execution of the sentences, life sentence, and death sentence seem to mean the same thing in this country.

“While the death sentence is retained in statute books, in reality, and for all practical purposes, it no longer exists. However, it is not for us to delete it from the statute books. What is however clear is that in terms of execution, there is no distinction between a death sentence and a life sentence.”