HARO HASSAN JIRA V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

1. Before us is a first appeal against Haro Hassan Jira’s (the appellant) conviction and sentence for the offence of murder. As such, we are cognizant that a first appeal to this Court is by way of a retrial, entailing an exhaustive appraisal and re-evaluation of the evidence. We are not merely called upon to scrutinize the evidence to see whether it supports the findings and conclusions of the trial court. On the contrary, we must weigh conflicting evidence, make our own findings and draw our own independent conclusion. See Kiilu and Another v. R [2005] KLR 174.

2. On the morning of 22^nd August, 2013 Margaret Njeni Chilango (PW1) went to her sister’s house, Catherine Mbuche Chillango (deceased) in the company of Lucy Luvuno Kiti (PW2) to assist her with house chores. The deceased informed them that she was going to collect her son’s birth certificate from her estranged husband who happened to be the appellant. She was accompanied by a village elder, Boniface Tsuma…