VITALIS OBONYO ONYA V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

The appellant, VITALIS OBONYO ONYANGO (the appellant) was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to death for the offence of robbery with violence contrary to Section 296(2) of the Penal Code. The trial magistrate, M. Rungare, P.M. based the appellant’s conviction substantially on the visual identification evidence of three people, in broad daylight. The appellant’s first appeal to the superior court was dismissed on the basis that the trial court fully evaluated the evidence adduced before it and came to the correct conclusion that the evidence against the appellant proved the charge against him within the standard required in criminal cases.

This is the appellant’s second appeal, and by dint of the provisions of section 361 of the Criminal Procedure Code, only issues of law fall for consideration. Two broad issues of law have been raised, as follows:

(1) The superior court did not subject the entire evidence to a fresh and exhaustive scrutiny.

(2) That court erred…