Wako Jattani v Republic [2018] KEHC 8653 (KLR)

REPUBLIC OF KENYA

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MERU

MISC. CRIMINAL APPLICATION CASE  NO. 3 OF 2018

WAKO JATTANI .........................................................APPLICANT

-VERSUS-

REPUBLIC..............................................................RESPONDENT

RULING

1. WAKO JATTANI has applied for leave to appeal out of time. He is aggrieved against the judgment of this Court (Hon. Kiarie J.) made on 27th April, 2017 upholding the judgment of the Principal Magistrate’s Court, Isiolo wherein he had been  convicted with the offence of rape contrary to Section 3 (1) (a) and (c) of  the Sexual Offences Act No. 3 of 2006 and  sentenced to 20 years imprisonment..

2.  The time for appealing expired on 1st May, 2017.  He lodged  the present application on 17th January, 2018. There is therefore a delay of nine (9) months. That is in all  circumstances, inordinate.

3. The reasons advanced for the delay is that there occurred a filing problem between the Prisons Documentation Office and this Court’s registry whereby he was unable to lodge his    appeal in time. The Applicant has contended that the intended appeal has overwhelming chances of success.

4.  Having considered the case in its entirety, I find the reasons advanced for a delay of just nine months to be credible.  It is not farfetched that, in the normal course of events, there can be breakdown of communication between this Court’s registry and the Prisons Department wherein the Applicant is being held.  To my mind, that is a plausible  explanation.

5.  Further, and what weighed heavily on my decision, considering the long sentence which the Applicant is serving  and that he has only spent less than a year out of the twenty    he is to serve, it is just and fair to grant the Applicant an opportunity to ventilate his case before a higher Court for  consideration.

6. Accordingly, leave is granted as prayed.  The Notice of Appeal be filed within 14 days of the date hereof.

DATED and DELIVERED at MERU this 24th day of January, 2018.

A. MABEYA

JUDGE