JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
The trial of the appellant was preceded by what were then called committal proceedings, but since removed from the statute book. The proceedings started on 29th January, 1999 in the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Nairobi. On 6th October, 1999 the appellant was committed to stand trial for the offence of murder contrary to Section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code. It is not necessary to restate the statutory provisions in play then. They were all complied with and on 3rd June, 2003 Rawal, J. as she then was, commenced the trial with the aid of three assessors. That was the mode of conducting murder trials, but it, too, has since been removed from the Criminal Procedure Code. In the information presented to court by the Director of Public Prosecutions, it was alleged that on 11th December, 1997 at Mbotela Estate, Nairobi the appellant murdered George Ng’ang’a Chege.
After hearing twelve witnesses, the learned judge summed up the case to the assessors as was …