LONGOLEMIK V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT

The appellant was charged in the court of the Resident Magistrate at Kitale with, in the first count, stealing stock contrary to Section 278 of the Penal Code and in the alternative, in the second count, with handling stolen stock contrary to Section 322(2) of the Penal Code. He was acquitted on the first count, but convicted on the alternative count and sentenced to the prescribed minimum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment. Thirteen days after sentence, he was brought back before the same Resident Magistrate and ordered to be subject to five years’ police supervision after his release from custody. Learned State Attorney, Mr Chunga, had doubts about the legality of the police supervision order as in his view the learned magistrate was functus officio when he made that order. We share that doubt and think the case file should have been submitted to the High Court for the necessary order to be made in its revisional jurisdiction. We propose to say no more about this aspect o…