JOHN KASYIMI KAKITI & JOHN MWENDO KATIWA V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

JOHN KASYIMI KAKITI (the 1^st appellant) and JOHN MWENDO KATIWA (the 2^nd appellant) were jointly charged with the offence of robbery with violence contrary to Section 296(2) of the Penal Code. The first appellant faced an alternative charge of handling stolen property contrary to Section 322(2) of the Penal Code. They denied those charges but after trial, they were convicted on the main charge and sentenced to death. In a judgment delivered on 15^th June 2012 in Nairobi HCCRA No. 285 of 2010 the High Court dismissed their appeals thus provoking this one.

The facts of the case were fairly simple and straightforward. It was alleged that on 11^th December 2009, at Katengo Village, Syomunyu sub-location, Kanyangi Location of Kitui District, while armed with pangas and whips, the appellants violently robbed Kataa Munyilo of one pressure stove and one table cloth both valued at Kshs.2000/=. The alternative charge against the 1^st appellant alleged that at around 7.30 p.m. on…