High Court orders retrial of all sexual offenders countrywide
Justice John Mativo.
The High Court in Mombasa has issued orders directing that persons convicted and imprisoned over sexual offences are at liberty to petition the High Court for mitigation and re-sentencing.
Justice John Mativo declared that sentencing of the offenders remains a discretionary power, exercisable by the court and involves the deliberation of the appropriate sentence.
Justice Mativo, while issuing his landmark ruling, stated that the convicted felons are at liberty to petition the High Court for orders of sentence rehearing.
“Having considered the issues raised in this petition, the orders that commend themselves to me and which I hereby grant are as follows, to the extent that the Sexual Offences Act prescribe minimum mandatory sentences, with no discretion to the trial court to determine the appropriate sentence to impose, such sentences fall foul of Article 28 of the Constitution,” he said.
