WARUINGI GIKUMA V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

The appellant, now aged 71 years, pleaded guilty to a charge of defilement of a girl contrary to Section 145(1) of the Penal Code. He was sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment plus 7 strokes. The complainant was then aged 51/52 years. His appeal to the High Court (Masime J) was summarily dismissed. The appeal is only against sentence.

The initial ground of appeal is that, the sentence is harsh and manifestly excessive and should be substituted by a probation order. The appellant’s additional hand-written grounds are that the evidence on the complainant’s injuries was contradictory, that there was no evidence of sexual intercourse and that the doctor’s evidence was not considered. Learned principal state counsel argued that there is no right of appeal. This second appeal can only be brought on grounds of law.

The additional grounds do not raise any issue of law because the summary dismissal under section 352(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code is correct. The sentence is …