JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
This is a first appeal from the judgment of the High Court of Kenya at Nairobi in Criminal Case No. 85 of 2013 (Mutuku, J.) delivered on 7th December, 2015. Being a first appeal it is our duty to re-evaluate, re-assess and re-analyse the evidence that was before the trial court and then arrive at our own conclusions and give reasons for reaching those conclusions. In a leading case in this respect – Okeno v. Republic [1972] E.A. 32 the predecessor of this Court stated of the duty of a first appellate court as follows:
“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 v. Republic (1957) EA. (336) and the appellate court’s own decision on the evidence. The first appellate court must itself weigh conflicting evidence and draw its own conclusion. (Shantilal M. Ruwala v. R. (1957) EA. 570). It is not the function of a first appellate court merely to scrutinize the evidence to see i…