PATRICK OMONDI OPIYO T/A DALLAS PUB
V.
SHABAN KEAH & ANOTHER

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

1. This is a second appeal from the Ruling of Hon. T. Ole Tanchu, Senior Resident Magistrate Mombasa in Civil Suit No. 317 of 2009, in which he dismissed an application by the respondents herein seeking to set aside judgment entered on 18^th October, 2011 after the respondents failed to appear in court for formal proof of their case.

2. Aggrieved by the said ruling, the respondents herein appealed to the High Court vide Civil Appeal No. 131 of 2012. The learned Judge allowed the appeal and set aside the judgment in question and ordered that the appellants therein file their defence within 15 days from the date of that judgment.

3. The appellant being aggrieved by the order setting aside his judgment moved to this Court on second appeal.

4. As we consider this appeal, it is not lost on us that on second appeal our mandate is restricted to matters of law, and further that we must show deference to the findings of the two counts below, subject to few exceptions. This man…