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146 judgments found.
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December 2024
Convictions quashed where economic‑offence trial was held in a court lacking jurisdiction under the DPP certificate.
Appellate practice — nullity of proceedings — consequences and restoration of parties to pre-nullified position — Appellate Jurisdiction Act s.4(2) revisional powers
Criminal law — jurisdiction of subordinate court — Trial by court lacking jurisdiction where DPP certificate vests jurisdiction in District Court
Criminal procedure — EOCCA — Requirement of DPP certificate (s.12(3)) conferring jurisdiction to try economic offences
27 December 2024
Section 160(2) LMA does not allow division of property after cohabitation where presumption of marriage is rebutted due to an existing monogamous marriage.
Family law — Cohabitation — Presumption of marriage — division of property
23 December 2024
Rape conviction quashed where victim's inconsistent testimony, delayed disclosure and lack of corroboration made the prosecution's case unsafe.
Criminal law — Rape — Proof of rape
Evidence — Witness credibility — Inconsistencies and conduct suggesting complicity undermine reliability
23 December 2024
Applicant failed to show sufficient cause or to account for each day of delay; appeal to extend time was dismissed.
Civil procedure
— Requirement to account for each day of delay — Lyamuya/Bushiri principles applied: failure to show sufficient cause for unaccounted delay
— extension of time — Whether sufficient cause shown to extend time to file revision
Labour law — Revision of CMA award — Illegality ground raised first on appeal cannot be entertained
19 December 2024
Conviction for impregnating a schoolgirl quashed due to unreliable prosecution evidence and failure to call material witnesses.
Criminal law — sexual offences against a child — Impregnating a secondary school girl — Proof beyond reasonable doubt
Evidence
— Documentary evidence — Reliability of school registers and attendance records
— Failure to call material witnesses — adverse inference — arresting militia, investigator and neighbours
19 December 2024
Failure to comply with committal procedures and admit only properly listed witnesses rendered murder conviction unsafe and appeal successful.
Criminal procedure — committal proceedings
— admissibility of unlisted witnesses and exhibits
— functus officio
— identification evidence
— reliability of single witness
— standard of proof in criminal cases
18 December 2024
Convictions quashed where key evidence was improperly admitted and fair trial procedures were not followed, rendering the prosecution case unproven.
Criminal law — doctrine of recent possession — Procedural fairness — Admission of exhibits
18 December 2024
A claim for royalties must be strictly proved as to production from specific areas, and burden of proof rests with the claimant.
Contract — Royalties for gold production
— Burden not to be shifted by court
— Dismissal for lack of proof
— Burden of proof
— Contractual freedom
— Contra proferentem
— Proof of special damages
— Evidence
18 December 2024
Appeal dismissed: defence rejected, victim inconsistencies immaterial, clinic cards expunged.
Criminal law — Sexual offences/incest
— medical evidence of STIs not conclusive for identification — Concurrent findings of fact
— minor contradictions do not necessarily destroy credibility — appellate interference only for misapprehension of evidence or miscarriage of justice
Criminal procedure — Evaluation of defence — Trial court obliged to consider defence
Evidence — PF3 and medical records — Clinic cards admitted but not read out are expunged, oral medical evidence may remain admissible
12 December 2024
Procedural irregularities and alleged defects did not invalidate a statutory rape conviction upheld on credible evidence and fair trial principles.
Criminal procedure — statutory rape
— defective charge sheet
— delay in arraignment
— expunging cautioned statement
— non-calling of material witnesses
— procedural irregularities at preliminary hearing
— proof of age of victim
— sufficiency of evidence
11 December 2024
Failure to obtain a Marriage Conciliation Board certificate before filing for divorce renders all court proceedings and orders null.
Family law — Divorce — Mandatory reference to Marriage Conciliation Board — Jurisdiction of Primary Court — Nullity of proceedings for non-compliance with statutory preconditions
10 December 2024
Court dismissed appeal, finding appellant's out‑of‑time cautioned statement and oral confession admissible and voluntary.
Criminal law
— Confession admissibility — Oral confession — Voluntariness and free agency
— Evidence — Admissibility of cautioned statements — Criminal Procedure Act s169
Criminal procedure — first appeal as rehearing — Appellate re-evaluation of entire evidence
10 December 2024
The court held that reinstatement and compensation for unfair termination cannot be awarded together, but only as alternatives.
Labour law — Appeals to Court of Appeal — Points of law only
10 December 2024
Failure to tender a Marriage Conciliation Board certificate renders matrimonial proceedings a nullity due to lack of jurisdiction.
Family law — Matrimonial proceedings — jurisdiction — Mandatory requirement to refer dispute to Marriage Conciliation Board and tender certificate — Proceedings and judgments set aside as nullities
10 December 2024
Conviction quashed as prosecution failed to comply with admissibility rules for deceased witness evidence, leaving insufficient proof.
Criminal law — Procedural irregularity — Reliance on retracted confession — Sufficiency of evidence — Proof beyond reasonable doubt
10 December 2024
An appellate court must nullify lower court proceedings before ordering a retrial, or the entire process is a nullity.
Civil procedure — appellate court orders — retrial — procedural irregularity — nullity of retrial without proper orders
10 December 2024
Minor contradictions and delayed reporting in rape cases do not undermine credible and corroborated prosecution evidence.
Criminal law — Rape
— Burden of proof in sexual offences
— Credibility of victim witness
— delay in reporting
10 December 2024
The appellate court upheld the rape conviction and life sentence, finding no procedural flaws or evidential errors warranting interference.
Criminal law — Rape
— Admissibility of oral confession to civilians
— Proof beyond reasonable doubt
— Credibility of witness testimony
— Enhancement of sentence for rape of child under ten
— Evidence by a child of tender years
— Preliminary hearing non-compliance with section 192 of the CPA
10 December 2024
Conviction quashed where confessional statements were inadmissible and prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
Criminal law — Evidence
— Admissibility
— appellate review
— Cautioned statement
— Circumstantial evidence
— extra-judicial statement
— murder conviction
— procedure for recording confessions
— Chief Justice’s Guidelines
— standard of proof in criminal cases
Criminal law — Evidence--Confession
10 December 2024
Conviction quashed and appellant released after trial nullified for improper substitution of assessors during proceedings.
Criminal procedure — trial with assessors — substitution of assessors during trial — trial nullity resulting from assessors not hearing all the evidence — retrial not ordered where evidence insufficient
6 December 2024
A murder conviction reversed due to failure to conduct a trial within trial on a disputed confessional statement.
Criminal law — confession — voluntariness — Procedural irregularity
5 December 2024
Convictions quashed because committal was vacated and no valid recommittal occurred, rendering the High Court trial a nullity.
Appellate practice — Revisionary powers — Court of Appeal may invoke s. 4(2) AJA to quash defective proceedings and remit for proper judgment
Criminal procedure
— Functus officio — Finality of committal rulings
— committal proceedings — validity of ordering fresh committal while earlier committal and High Court proceedings subsist
4 December 2024
Conviction quashed where confession and other evidence were improperly admitted and sole identification witness was unreliable.
Criminal law — identity evidence — eyewitness credibility and corroboration — Requirements for reliability and caution in night‑time/recognition evidence (Waziri Amani caution)
Criminal procedure
— admissibility of cautioned statements — Mandatory compliance with sections 50, 57 and 58 CPA — Improper reliance on section 169/public interest not demonstrated
— committal and section 289(1) CPA — witnesses/exhibits not properly listed — Notice requirement for additional witnesses and need to address accused before admitting exhibits (s.289 CPA)
4 December 2024
Conviction quashed where key evidence was admitted improperly and remaining evidence failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Criminal procedure — Admission of evidence — trial court's duty to give reasons for admitting contested exhibits — impact of procedural irregularities on fair trial
4 December 2024
Conviction quashed due to reliance on prosecution witnesses not properly listed or disclosed at committal, violating procedural law.
Criminal procedure — committal proceedings — unfair trial — sufficiency of remaining evidence after expunction — standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt
3 December 2024
November 2024
A conviction for murder was upheld where circumstantial evidence and primary witness testimony established guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Criminal law — Murder
— Alibi defence
— Proof beyond reasonable doubt
— circumstantial evidence
— Quality versus quantity of prosecution witnesses
— Reliance on primary witness testimony
— Burden and standard of proof
29 November 2024
Procedural irregularities and lack of corroborative evidence rendered the appellant's murder conviction unsafe and led to acquittal.
Criminal law — Murder — Admission of evidence and exhibits
29 November 2024
October 2024
Appeal on murder convictions dismissed except for sentence adjustment for a child offender; confessions, forensic, and circumstantial evidence upheld.
Criminal law — Murder — child offender — proper sentencing upon conviction
Criminal procedure
— admissibility of forensic, search and tracking dog evidence — confessional and extrajudicial statements — doctrine of recent possession — burden and standard of proof — circumstantial evidence
— fair trial — procedural compliance and remedies
7 October 2024
August 2024
Failure to address all grounds of appeal constitutes denial of fair hearing and renders the judgment a nullity.
Criminal procedure — Appeal — Failure by first appellate court to address all grounds of appeal — Fair trial — Nullification of proceedings and remittal for proper consideration
30 August 2024
DLHT exceeded jurisdiction by deciding paternity and will; appeals by an unappointed administrator were nullities.
Appellate practice — Appellate jurisdiction — second appellate court and addressing issues going to competence even if not raised below — Appellate Jurisdiction Act s.4(2) (power to quash proceedings)
Civil procedure — Locus standi — alleged administrator without letters of administration lacks standing — Appeal and subsequent applications incompetent
Land law — jurisdiction of DLHT — suo motu determination of unpleaded issues — Determination of paternity and validity of will render proceedings nullity
21 August 2024
Convictions based solely on improperly admitted confessional statements were quashed due to procedural violations under the Criminal Procedure Act.
Criminal procedure — Admissibility of confessional statements — Non-compliance with statutory safeguards under the CPA — Requirement of corroboration — Consequences of procedural errors in recording and admitting confessions
21 August 2024
A court may review its judgment for patent errors, and a successor judge may preside over such a review in labour matters.
Labour law — review of judgments — error apparent on the face of the record — jurisdiction of successor judge to hear review
21 August 2024
Conviction quashed as burglary charge was inapplicable to non-dwelling premises and charge was not amended to fit evidence.
Criminal law — Defective charge
21 August 2024
High Court judgment nullified for failing to consider all grounds of appeal, denying the appellant a fair hearing.
Criminal procedure — Appeal — Obligations of first appellate court
21 August 2024
A criminal conviction for obtaining money by false pretence was upheld where evidence established deceptive intent beyond a civil dispute.
Criminal law — obtaining money by false pretence — appellate court's power to reverse acquittal and convict — distinguishing civil and criminal liability — sufficiency of evidence — compensation for victims of crime
21 August 2024
Court varied a life sentence to 30 years’ imprisonment for unnatural offence due to lack of proof of victim’s age below 18.
Criminal law — Unnatural offence — proof of penetration — sufficiency of evidence
20 August 2024
Appeal dismissed; conviction upheld on child testimony, mother's eyewitness account and corroborating medical evidence.
Criminal law — Unnatural offence (sodomy) — reception of unsworn evidence of child witnesses
Criminal procedure — Identification evidence — Witnesses first seeing accused at scene
Evidence — PF3 admitted but not read out — Admission and expunction by first appellate court — Effect on conviction
20 August 2024
An appeal was remitted for filing of a supplementary record to ensure all key pleadings and arbitration notices were included.
Civil procedure — Record of appeal
20 August 2024
Court upheld statutory rape conviction, expunged improperly admitted search evidence, and dismissed the appeal.
Appellate practice — Second appeal — new grounds not raised in the High Court are not entertainable by the Court of Appeal
Criminal law — sexual offences against a child — Rape — Proof and witness credibility
Criminal procedure — Search and seizure — defective seizure certificate expunged — Non‑compliance with s.38(3) CPA
20 August 2024
Conviction quashed as confession was improperly admitted and recent possession was not sufficiently established to support guilt.
Criminal law — Murder
— evaluation of procedural irregularities in confession evidence — Admissibility of confession
— Evidence
— Procedural irregularities in admission and recording of cautioned statement
— Doctrine of recent possession
— Proof of ownership and possession of stolen property
— Quashing of conviction due to evidentiary and procedural defects
20 August 2024
An appellate court cannot convict on a count for which the trial court acquitted and no appeal exists, but rape conviction upheld.
Criminal law — Rape — sufficiency of victim's evidence — appellate court’s jurisdiction to convict on acquitted count absent prosecution appeal — sentencing practice where multiple offences arise from the same transaction
20 August 2024
A matrimonial petition cannot proceed in court without a Conciliation Board certificate absent specific statutory exceptions.
Family law — matrimonial dispute — Jurisdiction — Whether issuance of certificate by Conciliation Board is a strict precondition to court proceedings — Interpretation of statutory exceptions to prior reference to Board
19 August 2024
Premature pronouncement of guilt in a ruling on case to answer vitiates subsequent proceedings and denies a fair trial.
Criminal procedure — Ruling on case to answer — Fair trial — premature pronouncement of guilt — nullification of proceedings
19 August 2024
Evidence indicated assault causing bodily harm, not armed robbery; conviction quashed and appellant released.
Criminal law — Armed robbery: elements (theft, weapon, violence) — Material variance between charge and evidence — Section 234 CPA: failure to amend charge fatal
19 August 2024
Vendor's unilateral rescission and resale was unlawful where purchaser paid instalments in time under an instalment sale agreement.
Contract law — Sale of land — Installment payments — Whether time was of the essence under an instalment clause
Evidence — reliance on correspondence versus admissible evidence — Whether correspondence between advocates constituted privileged communication and admissible evidence
Land law — double sale/priority principle — Whether a vendor who previously sold property can pass title by subsequent resale (nemo dat quod non habet)
19 August 2024
Failure to comply with committal and section 289 notice requirements led to expunging key evidence and quashing the murder conviction.
Criminal law
— Discretion to call additional witnesses — Parade of additional witnesses — Notice requirement
— admissibility and corroboration of dying declarations — Admissibility of dying declaration not listed at committal
— hearsay and lack of corroboration — Uncorroborated hearsay insufficient to sustain murder conviction
16 August 2024
Failure to administer oath or affirmation to witnesses at arbitration renders the proceedings null and void, requiring rehearing.
Labour law — arbitration proceedings — Evidence — Non-compliance renders proceedings a nullity — Labour Institutions
16 August 2024
Conviction quashed where sole basis was an uncorroborated, repudiated cautioned statement recorded outside statutory time.
Criminal law — Evidence — cautioned statement of co-accused — Admissibility, voluntariness and need for corroboration
Criminal procedure
— Arrest and detention — Recording of cautioned statement — Compliance with s 50(1)(a) Criminal Procedure Act
— trial-within-a-trial — assessors ought to retire when admissibility contested — Effects of admitting confession while assessors absent
16 August 2024
Voire-dire is no longer necessary for child witnesses in sexual offences; credible victim testimony alone can sustain conviction.
Criminal law — Rape
— Evidence of child witness
— No requirement for corroboration in sexual offences
— Voire-dire no longer required after 2016 amendment
— Promise to tell truth sufficient
Criminal law — Rape (statutory rape)
— Proof of age and penetration
16 August 2024
Continued post‑expiry employment and employer conduct can create legitimate expectation, making non‑renewal an unfair termination.
Labour law
— fixed‑term contracts — Automatic (default) renewal where employee continues working after expiry and is remunerated — Employment and Labour Relations (Code of Good Practice) Rules, G.N. No. 42/2007, Rule 4(3)
— unfair termination — reasonable expectation of contract renewal — s36(3)(iii) Employment and Labour Relations Act
16 August 2024