JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
This is an appeal against the appellant’s conviction and sentence for the offence of murder. Being a first appeal, our primary role is to revisit the evidence that was tendered before the trial Judge, analyze the same independently and then draw conclusions bearing in mind the fact that we neither saw nor heard the witnesses, and make an allowance for that. In OKENO -VS- R [1972] EA 32 at p. 36 the predecessor of this Court stated:-
“An appellant on a first appeal is entitled to expect the evidence as a whole to be submitted to a fresh and exhaustive examination (PANDYA-VS- R [1957] EA 336) and to the appellate court’s own decision on the evidence. The first appellate court must itself weigh conflicting evidence and draw its own conclusions. (SHANTILEL .M. RUWAL -VS- R. [1957] EA 570). It is not the function of a first appellate court merely to scrutinize the evidence to see if there was some evidence to support the lower court’s findings and conclusions; it must m…