STEPHEN MUGANE KARURI V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

This is yet another of the numerous matters that come before us on a second appeal to this Court, in which the appellant either restricts the appeal to sentence or abandons the appeal on conviction and pleads for leniency on sentence. The “Memorandum of Appeal” or “Grounds of Appeal” documents filed as a basis for such appeals are invariably titled “Mitigation” while the appellant in submissions would call them “Malilio” in Kiswahili. We think in the interest of giving a chance to those appellants who have genuine legal issues to address before the court, and to avoid unnecessary backlog of appeals, appellants who purport to merely plead for reduction of sentence for no other reason but because it is severe, must be reminded by prison authorities or those that advise them, that this Court deals with matters of law only and severity of sentence is not a matter of law but a matter of fact as stated in Section 361(1)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The appellant he…