PART VI
TRIALS
GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO TRIALS
A. - Powers of Courts
(b) Subordinate Courts
170.-(1) A subordinate court may, in the cases in which such sentences are authorised by law, pass any of the following sentences–
(a) imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; save that where a court convicts a person of an offence specified in any of the Schedules to the Minimum Sentences Act which it has jurisdiction to hear, it shall have the jurisdiction to pass the minimum sentence of imprisonment;
(b) a fine not exceeding twenty million shillings;
(c) subject to the provisions of the Corporal Punishment Act, corporal punishment;
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1)–
(a) a sentence of imprisonment–
(i) for a scheduled offence (as defined in subsection (5), which exceeds the minimum term of imprisonment prescribed in respect of it by the Minimum Sentences Act;
(ii) for any other offence, which exceeds twelve months;
(b) a sentence of corporal punishment which exceeds twelve strokes;
(c) a sentence of a fine or for the payment of money (other than payment of compensation under the Minimum Sentences Act, which exceeds six thousand shillings,
shall not be carried into effect, executed or levied until the record of the case, or a certified copy of it, has been transmitted to the High Court and the sentence or order has been confirmed by a Judge:
Provided that this section shall not apply in respect of any sentence passed by a Senior Resident Magistrate of any grade or rank.
(3) The provisions of subsection (1) shall be without prejudice to the provisions of any written law authorising a subordinate court to impose in relation to any offence specified in such written law, a sentence in excess of the sentences provided for in that subsection.
(4) The provisions of subsection (2) shall apply in relation to a sentence of imprisonment whether such sentence is a substantive sentence of imprisonment in default of a payment of a fine or a combination of two sentences.
(5) In this section "scheduled offence" shall have the meaning assigned to that expression by the Minimum Sentences Act.
(6) The police officer in charge of a police station may, where he is satisfied that any person has committed an offence of which the penalty does not exceed two hundred thousand shillings by order under his hand compound such offence by requiring such person to make payment of a sum of money:
Provided that–
(a) such sum of money shall be half the maximum fine provided for such offence;
(b) the power conferred by this subsection shall only be exercised where the person admits in writing that he has committed the offence;
(c) the police officer shall issue to the person from whom he received such sum of money a receipt thereof.
171.-(1) Where under the provisions of this Act a subordinate court presided over by a District Magistrate convicts any adult of an offence if, on obtaining information as to the character and antecedents of such adult or as to the circumstances of the offence, the court is of the opinion that they are such that greater punishment should be inflicted for the offence than the court has power to inflict, the court may, instead of dealing with him in any other manner, commit the offender in custody to the High Court for sentence in accordance with the following provisions of this section.
(2) Where an offender is committed to the High Court for sentence under the provisions of this section, the High Court shall inquire into the circumstances of the case and shall deal with the offender in any manner in which he could have been dealt with by the High Court if he had been convicted by the High Court of the offence in question.
(3) If the High Court imposes a sentence on the offender, the provisions of this Act with regard to an appeal against conviction only shall apply as for any other case tried by a subordinate court.
(4) The High Court may in its discretion postpone its inquiry under the provisions of subsection (2) of this section until the expiration of the time for filing notice of appeal against conviction, and if such notice has been filed before the High Court commences such inquiry until final determination of such appeal or subsequent appeals or for such lesser period as the court may deem fit.
(5) Where a person, who has been committed in custody to the High Court for sentence in accordance with the provisions of subsection (1), files a notice of appeal against his conviction, the High Court or the subordinate court which convicted him may, for reasons to be recorded by it in writing, grant bail with or without sureties pending the hearing of the appeal.
(6) The provisions of this section shall be so construed as to enable the High Court in its consideration of any case thereunder to exercise its power of revision under section 373 of this Act in the same manner as if the record of the proceedings had under that section been reported to the High Court for orders.
172.-(1) Whenever a subordinate court passes a sentence which requires confirmation, the court imposing the sentence may in its discretion release the person sentenced on bail pending confirmation or such order as the confirming court may make.
(2) Where–
(a) a person is committed in custody for sentence by the High Court;
(b) a person is remanded in custody awaiting the confirmation of his sentence by a higher court; or
(c) a person has been in remand custody for a period awaiting his trial,
his sentence whether it is under the Minimum Sentences Act, or any other law, shall start to run when such sentence imposed is confirmed, as the case may be, and such sentence shall take into account the period the person spent in remand.
(4) If the person sentenced is, at the time sentence is passed, serving a sentence of imprisonment for another offence the term of imprisonment to which he is sentenced shall, unless the court otherwise orders, run from the date of the expiry of the sentence for such other offence, subject to subsection (5).
(5) The High Court may exercise the same powers in confirmation as are conferred upon it in revision by Part X of this Act.
(6) The confirming court may in its discretion where no order has been made under subsection (1) of this section by the convicting court, release the person sentenced on bail pending an order in revision made by the High Court in exercise of its powers under section 385 of this Act.
(7) Where a person is convicted of an offence specified in any of the Schedules to the Minimum Sentences Act, the provisions of this section shall have effect subject to provisions of section 8 of that Act.
Sentencing - national proceedings
EDIT.