JUDGMENT
The facts surrounding this appeal are that on 18th August 2011, the appellant, Christine Nthakye Wambua, discovered that her donkeys had gone missing and could not be traced. She immediately went out to search for them and eventually found them in the 1st and 2nd respondents’ homestead. The 1st and 2nd respondents declined to release them as they claimed they were detaining the donkeys because they had invaded their father's land and damaged their crops.
This prompted the appellant to lodge a complaint with the Assistant Chief and the Administration Police. When the matter was not resolved, the appellant lodged a report at the Mwingi Police Station. The 1st and 2nd respondents were arrested and charged in Criminal Case Number 541 of 2011, at the Senior Resident Magistrates’ Court at Mwingi, with the offence of stealing stock under section 278 of the Penal Code. Upon hearing evidence, the trial court acquitted the 1st and 2nd respondents under section 215 of the Criminal Procedu…