RICHARD MUNENE V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

The appellant’s conviction and sentence to life imprisonment imposed by the magistrate’s court for the offence of defilement having been upheld by the High Court, his counsel Mrs. Makworo has before us in this second appeal summarized the following questions for our determination;

i. that two out of six prosecution witnesses (PW4 and PW5), gave evidence without witness statements; that by the time the investigating officer testified, there were no witness statements by these two witnesses; and that as a result, the High Court ought to have disregarded the evidence of PW4 and PW5;

ii. that at the close of the defence case, the trial court invoked its powers under section 150 of the Criminal Procedure Code and on its own motion summoned a witness (Francis) who due to his tender years (three years old) did not testify; and that without voir dire examination the trial court had no basis for the conclusion that the boy could not testify on account of age;

iii. that the ev…