JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
The appellant, a primary school teacher, was convicted of the offences of manslaughter on his own plea of guilty and sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment by the learned acting Judge at Kakamega. He appeals against his sentence on the grounds that he committed the offence while attempting to recover his bicycle, which had been forcibly taken from him, that he has ten children, of whom five are in school, an elderly father to look after and that he himself suffers from bronchial asthma.
The facts stated in the High Court, coupled with the appellant's police statements, show that on the 15th August 1982 the appellant was returning from a beer party with others at about 7.00 p.m. His companions having dispersed he was left alone with his bicycle, when someone suddenly came from behind and struck him with an iron bar. He chased that person and then returned to where he had left his bicycle, only to find his bicycle being ridden away, though whether by his original assaila…