The Supreme Court of Kenya . [File, Standard]
The High Court has rejected a bid to cap all jail sentences at 67 years, the normal life expectancy for Kenyans.
In her judgment, Justice Roselyne Aburili said that she had no powers to entertain the case filed by a death row convict, James Mwinga Gathuri, as his sentence was reviewed downwards to 40 years after the Supreme Court found that the mandatory death sentence was unconstitutional.
“The petitioner having already benefitted from a reduction of sentence based on the Supreme Court’s authority, he cannot now approach this Court once again to seek further redress over the same matter, albeit crafted as a constitutional petition. If courts were allowed to continually revisit or reconsider final orders and review sentences which they have rendered without a legal basis, as were the directives from the Supreme Court in Muruatetu II, there would never be finality to a proceeding,” ruled Justice Aburili.
She insisted that he could not enjoy the review twice.
Mwinga’s case, if it had been successful, would have seen the oldest prisoner in Kenya’s jails be 67 years old. He argued that it is unfair for courts to hand life or death sentences, as they exceed the normal life expectancy.
Mwinga was sentenced to death on June 3, 2014, after being found guilty of clobbering his seven- and five-year-old children to death after his wife deserted following a disagreement.
He appealed, but after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Francis Karioko Muruatetu that a mandatory death sentence was illegal, he withdrew the appeal and instead opted for a re-sentence.