REPUBLIC OF KENYA
Okhwatenge v. Republic
JUDGMENT
The appellant was charged and convicted of procuring registration of land in his name by false pretences contrary to section 320 of the Penal Code and sentenced to six months imprisonment.
The evidence against the appellant was that he was entrusted to take care of the suit property which was bought by the complainant in 1962. However sometime in 1987 he applied for rectification of the register and in consequence, the proprietorship section of the register was altered to reflect his own name. The alteration however did not bear a genuine seal with the Land Registry embossment on the bottom left hand corner. The appellant’s main ground of appeal was that neither the trial magistrate nor the learned first appellate judge gave any or adequate consideration to the discrepancies and conflicts in the evidence of the several prosecution witnesses. He also contested the length of time that had elapsed.
Held:
1. It is settled that any false pretence…