KASUNA ISWII vs REPUBLIC [2002] KECA 212 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Court of Appeal confirmed it cannot revisit facts on second appeals, so Kasuna Iswii's grievous harm conviction and seven-year sentence stood.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether there are errors of law in the judgments of the two lower courts to warrant interference by the Court of Appeal on a second appeal
Key legal issues
#Scope of a second appeal to the Court of Appeal
A second appeal is confined to matters of law; findings of fact of the two lower courts, where supported by evidence, cannot be questioned.
The court invoked the established rule in R v Hassan bin Said that a second appellate court does not revisit findings of fact where evidence supports them. Its only mandate is to identify errors of law in the judgments below. Having found the evidence established the stabbing beyond reasonable doubt and that self-defence was properly rejected, no error of law existed and the appeal failed.
Rejection of the plea of self-defence
The self-defence plea was correctly rejected as the attack on the complainants was unprovoked.
The court found as a matter on the record that the appellant viciously stabbed the two complainants with a sharp knife without provocation. On that basis the rejection of self-defence by the trial court and the first appellate court was correct, and no legal error arose from that rejection.
Legal principles established
#- On a second appeal to the Court of Appeal, the court is precluded from questioning findings of fact of the two lower courts provided there is evidence to support those findings; only errors of law warrant interference.
Court orders
#- 1.The appeal is dismissed
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
Wrote the judgment
Wrote the judgment
- On appeal from
- High Court of Kenya at Mombasa
- H.C.CR.APP. NO. 378 OF 1999
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Second appeal to the Court of Appeal under the Criminal Procedure Code, limited to matters of law
Relief refused
#Quashing of the convictions on two counts of grievous harm and the concurrent sentences of seven years' imprisonment
The appellant was convicted on sound evidence and the plea of self-defence was correctly rejected by the courts below
Costs
No costs order made in the judgment
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
on this second appeal, we are precluded from questioning the findings of fact of the two lower courts, provided that there is evidence to support those findings
Thus the only question to be decided in this appeal is whether there are errors of law in the judgments of the lower courts to warrant interference by this Court.
In our view the appellant was convicted on sound evidence and his appeal to this Court has no merit. The appeal is accordingly dismissed.
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "KASUNA ISWII vs REPUBLIC [2002] KECA 212 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2002). Criminal Appeal No. 71 of 2001. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2002/212/eng@2002-01-14
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.