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Kenya’s Cyber Crimes Act is now law.
Screenshot someone’s phone? 5 years.
Delete someone’s data? 5 years.
Record a call without consent? 2 years.
Post misleading information? 2 years.
Be rude online with intent to humiliate? 2 years.
The internet just got a legal address in Kenya.
Act accordingly.
BREAKING from Court of Appeal: If You Were the Last Person Seen With a Murder Victim, Failure to Explain What Happened May Prove Your Guilt
The Court of Appeal has upheld the murder conviction of a man who killed his own two-week-old son before secretly burying the infant in a shallow grave near his home in Meru. The chilling case began when the child's mother left the newborn asleep in the appellant's house, only to return moments later and discover the baby had vanished. As panic spread through the family compound, the father gave conflicting explanations before police compelled him to reveal the child's location. He led officers to a nearby banana plantation where the infant's body was recovered. Medical evidence later revealed devastating head injuries, including multiple scalp haematomas and bleeding within the brain, ruling out any possibility of an accidental fall.
In a powerful endorsement of circumstantial evidence, the Court found that although nobody witnessed the killing, the chain of facts pointed irresistibly to the father as the perpetrator. The judges relied heavily on the "last seen with" doctrine, noting that the appellant was the last adult left alone with the child and failed to offer any credible explanation for the baby's disappearance and death. The Court rejected arguments that the prosecution's case was weakened by the absence of a murder weapon or the failure to call certain witnesses, holding that the medical findings and surrounding circumstances were more than sufficient to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The decision reinforces a growing body of Kenyan jurisprudence affirming that murder convictions can rest entirely on circumstantial evidence where the facts form an unbroken chain pointing to the accused. It also strengthens the application of the "last seen with" doctrine, placing a heavy evidential burden on individuals who were the final known companions of deceased victims. While the Court upheld the murder conviction and found clear evidence of malice aforethought, it reduced the sentence from death to 25 years' imprisonment, reflecting the post-Muruatetu shift towards determinate sentencing even in the most serious criminal cases.
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The Supreme Court in Kenya in the lustrous case Gatirau Peter Munya Vs Dickson Mwenda Kithinji & 2 others, S.C App. No 5 of 2014; [2014] eKLR affirmed that for a Court to grant conservatory relief, an Applicant must demonstrate:
1. That his main case is arguable.
2. Unless the conservatory relief is granted, the main case if successful, would be rendered nugatory.
3. And it is in the public interest to grant the reliefs.
Just look at how our Registrar at SCC @joshuamalidzo has demonstrated how if the court fails to grant the conservatory relief, the Petition if successful, would be rendered nugatory. Just wow! Here as a JO, while grappling with such pleadings you have no otherwise but grant what the application seeks.
I, as SG of Young Bar Firm Owners, and by the powers bestowed on me by Young Bar Firm Owners Constitution, do hereby endorse Registrar of SCC as a consultant to the association on matters of Constitutional drafting!
Signed.
Jakochia Esq.
SG-Young Bar Firm Owners!