• Kamau was freed after Judge Lilian Nabwire Mutende of Milimani Law Courts did a criminal revision on the sentencing.
• A criminal revision is done in case there are doubts about the correctness, legality or regularity of a court's decision.
Image: FILE
When James Mungai Kamau was charged with stealing on April 2022, he entered into a plea bargain with the state which led to the deal of a lenient sentencing.
The deal has now freed him, without having to serve his sentence.
Kamau was freed after Judge Lilian Nabwire Mutende of Milimani Law Courts did a criminal revision on the sentencing.
A criminal revision is done in case there are doubts about the correctness, legality or regularity of a court's decision.
In the case, Kamau, who had previously denied having committed the offence, pleaded guilty to the stealing of a Sh141,791 motorbike belonging to one Kombo Nzoya Nzaphila.
The offence was committed on April 19, 2022.
A plea bargain is an agreement between the accused and the prosecutor in which the former agrees to plead guilty to some or all charges lodged against them in exchange for some kind of compromise from the prosecutor.
After coming into the aforesaid agreement, the court opted to impose a sentence of one year imprisonment instead of the penalty of up to seven years imprisonment.
But while the trial was ongoing, Kamau was in remand custody as he could not afford bail.
The Judiciary Sentencing Policy Guidelines directs that the court take into consideration the time already served in custody if the convict was locked up during trial.
The trial court acknowledged that Kamau was young and a first offender and had been in custody for about a year.
Basing its decision on the above, the court formed the opinion to sentence him for a year.
Judge Mutende however found that it erred in failing to comply with section 333 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code on taking time spent in custody into consideration during sentencing.
Informed by this, the court released him in a ruling delivered on August 10, 2023.
"In the premises, the applicant (Kamau) has already served the one year imprisonment. Consequently, I find the application having merit, the applicant shall be released forthwith unless otherwise lawfully held," the judge said.