JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
It is the duty of a first appellate court in an appeal like this one to analyse and re-evaluate the evidence and come to its own conclusions bearing in mind that it did not see or hear the witnesses – See Selle v. Associated Motor Boats Co. Ltd [1968] EA 123 where the duty of the first appellate court to re-evaluate the evidence and draw its own conclusions is discussed. The same point was made in the earlier English case of Brasegirdle v. Oxney [1947] 1 ALL ER 126 where it was held that a first appellate court would only interfere with the conclusions of a trial court if they were unsupported by the evidence on record.
In this matter appellant, James Obande, had filed proceedings in High Court of Kenya at Kisumu Succession Cause No. 417 of 2001 that led to his being given a grant of letters of administration to administer the estate of Julius Nyatogo Opondo (“ the deceased”). He described himself in those proceedings as the nephew and only surviving relative of th…