JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
The appellant was convicted by the Chief Magistrate's Court at Kakamega on a charge of defilement of a girl, J. L., aged 9 years, contrary to section 11(1) of the Sexual Offences Act and sentenced to serve life imprisonment. His first appeal to the High Court was unsuccessful, hence this second appeal.
In his memorandum of appeal to this Court, the appellant faulted the first appellate court for upholding his conviction even when it was shown that a key witness had not been called to testify. He also alleged that there was insufficient evidence to connect him to the said offence. The appellant further stated that his defence was not taken into consideration.
This being a second appeal, our mandate as per section 361 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code is confined to matters of law but because legal conclusions are derived from the facts and the evidence presented to a court, in this case we have to re-state, albeit briefly, the prosecution as well as the defence case…