All courts - 2021 April

32 judgments
Skip past years
Skip past months
Skip to results

Results. 32 judgments found.

32 judgments
April 2021
Interlocutory injunction granted restraining both parties from dealing with disputed customary land pending trial.
  • 'Interlocutory injunction' — application of American Cyanamid principles; 'serious question to be tried' as to ownership; 'adequacy of damages' for customary land; 'balance of convenience' and preservation of rights pending trial.
30 April 2021
30 April 2021
Court granted mutual interlocutory injunction restraining both parties from dealing with disputed customary land pending determination.
  • Interlocutory injunction — Land disputes — Serious question to be tried — Adequacy of damages for land — Balance of convenience — Preservation of customary land pending trial.
30 April 2021
Council’s decision to allow a Gandhi statue was unlawful, procedurally defective and violated claimants’ right to dignity.
  • Administrative law — judicial review of local authority decision — Physical Planning Act compliance and planning committee approval required; Constitutional law — right to human dignity (section 19) — administrative obligations to consider public interest and discrimination; Unreasonableness/Wednesbury review; Monuments and Relics Act inapplicable where no monument connection; Improper joinder of Attorney General where no decision by that office.
29 April 2021
A sentencing rehearing in the High Court is the appropriate constitutional remedy for sentences imposed under the invalid mandatory death provision.
  • Constitutional law — mandatory death penalty — Kafantayeni and Yasini — remedy of sentencing rehearing under ss. 46(2)–(3) and 108(2) — res judicata and stare decisis inapplicable to constitutional resentencing remedy — reception of post-conviction mitigation evidence — management directions for resentencing.
28 April 2021
26 April 2021
Whether the claimant held a beneficial interest in the matrimonial home and whether subsequent transfers were void for lack of purchaser inquiry and improper transfer.
  • Registered land — Overriding interests — Rights of person in actual occupation — Bona fide purchaser for value without notice — Matrimonial property — Beneficial interest — Transfer void ab initio — Trust ownership and authority to sell — Rectification of land register.
23 April 2021
21 April 2021
Permission for judicial review and ex parte injunction refused for insufficient evidence and valid statutory seizure powers.
  • Judicial review — permission stage; interlocutory injunction without notice; seizure/detention under the Forestry Act — requirement for seizure certificate; insufficiency of uncertified documents; proof of purchase and licence for quarrying; validity of sworn statements; statutory mandate of forestry officers.
21 April 2021
Application for judicial review and interim release of seized tippers dismissed for lack of admissible evidence and arguable case.
  • Judicial review — interlocutory injunction — seizure of vehicles under Forestry Act; proof and admissibility of documentary evidence; requirement for seizure certificate; enforcement against unlicensed quarrying; procedural adequacy of affidavits.
21 April 2021
Court appointed the respondent and an applicants’ nominee as joint interim administrators over estate fishing business pending will validity litigation.
  • Deceased estates — Interim administrator pendente lite — Appointment under ss.46 and 78(1) — Management of estate business — Surviving spouse’s priority under s.43 — Joint interim administrators — Decision‑making and referral to court.
20 April 2021
Claimant struck by vehicle awarded K5,500,000 for pain, suffering and loss of amenities; special damages denied.
  • Personal injury — motor vehicle collision — open distal tibia fracture — assessment of general damages (pain and suffering; loss of amenities; disfigurement) — degree of incapacity assessed at 40% — special damages not proved — award K5,500,000 — costs to claimant.
19 April 2021
Court increased sentence for defilement of a four‑year‑old from 10 to 45 years, stressing gravity and need for deterrence.
  • Criminal law — Defilement of a child — Sentence enhancement — Starting point 14 years — Aggravating factors: victim age (4 years), physical injury, psychosocial harm — Need for routine psychological assessment of child victims.
19 April 2021
Court increased the convict's sentence to 45 years for defiling a 4-year-old, finding the 11-year term manifestly inadequate.
  • Criminal law — Defilement — Sentencing — Starting point of 14 years for defilement — Aggravating factors (very young victim, position of trust) outweighing mitigation — Guilty plea and first-offender status — Need for routine psychosocial assessment of child victims.
19 April 2021
Whether death or life imprisonment is appropriate for a heinous, premeditated murder of a person with albinism; court imposed life imprisonment.
  • Criminal law — Murder of a person with albinism; sentencing discretion under amended Penal Code; death penalty no longer mandatory; "rarest of the rare" principle; life imprisonment as alternative maximum; aggravating v. mitigating factors; need for thorough investigation and inquest.
19 April 2021
16 April 2021
Notice of application improper; defence must file a formal 'Application to Restore Case' under Order 13 Rule 6(2); claimant awarded costs.
  • Civil procedure — Applications must follow prescribed Forms (Order 10) — Notices of application not generally permitted — Restoration of struck-out defence under Order 13 Rule 6(2) — Compliance with procedural rules and signatures — Costs for improper Notice.
15 April 2021
Judge recuses after public allegation of bribery by accused’s relative to preserve appearance of justice; trial adjourned sine die.
  • Judicial recusal — appearance of justice — public allegation of bribery by party’s relative — reasonable apprehension of bias — recusal mid-trial — adjournment pending reallocation.
15 April 2021
Judicial review quashed a chief's appointment for procedural unfairness and failure to show presidential satisfaction under section 4(2).
  • Chiefs Act s4(2) — appointment of chiefs; requirement of entitlement under customary law and majority support; administrative justice — Constitution s43; judicial review focuses on decision-making process; admissibility of affidavits — Oaths, Affirmations and Declarations Act (section 7) and Commissioner for Oaths rules; role of District Commissioner and Minister as facilitators; limits on court ordering executive appointments.
13 April 2021
13 April 2021
An appeal from the Industrial Relations Court must raise questions of law or jurisdiction, not re-litigate factual findings.
  • Labour law — Appeals from Industrial Relations Court — Section 65(2) LRA confines appeals to questions of law or jurisdiction; factual findings of IRC final and binding — Appellate consideration of facts limited to assessing whether law was correctly applied to found facts — Procedural requirements for grounds of appeal (Order III r.2 SCA Rules) — Inchoate appeals.
13 April 2021
Default judgment application rejected because the draft judgment sought relief not contained in the supporting sworn statement; Legal Aid Bureau given 14 days to respond.
  • Civil procedure — Default judgment — Order 12 r.7(1) CPR — draft judgment must correspond to sworn statement — inclusion of relief not pleaded renders application inadmissible — active case management — extension to Legal Aid Bureau to file defence.
12 April 2021
Convictions for harmful cultural practices quashed due to defective particulars, irregular guilty pleas, and insufficient supporting facts.
  • Criminal law — Harmful cultural practices (Child Care, Protection and Justice Act s80/s83) — Sufficiency of particulars — Plea-taking formalities (CP&EC s251) — Necessity to prove nexus between cultural practice, timing and harm — Defective pleas fatal — Conviction quashed — Retrial declined.
11 April 2021
Convictions for harmful cultural practices quashed for insufficient particulars, defective guilty pleas and inadequate prosecutorial facts.
  • Criminal law — harmful cultural practices — adequacy of particulars — plea-taking under s.251 CP&EC — requirement that prosecution facts disclose offence — incurable procedural defects — quashing convictions; retrial discretionary.
11 April 2021
Assessment of fatal injury damages: K3,000,000 loss of life, K2,156,868 dependency; special damages denied.
  • Personal injury — Fatal road traffic accident — Assessment of damages — Loss of expectation of life; loss of dependency — Multiplicand/multiplier method using minimum wage where no earnings proved — Special damages require strict pleading and proof — Adjustment of awards for currency devaluation and comparative precedents.
9 April 2021
Assessment of damages for a death: court adjusted awards for inflation, calculated dependency via multiplier/multiplicand, and disallowed unproven special damages.
  • Assessment of damages — Fatal road accident — Loss of expectation of life — Comparable awards adjusted for inflation — Loss of dependency — multiplicand and multiplier method — use of recorded age and one-third deduction — special damages must be strictly proved.
9 April 2021
Court awarded K4.7M for personal injury (pain, loss of amenities, disfigurement); special damages not proved.
  • Personal injury — assessment of damages — wedge compression fracture (L2) and MCP dislocation of index finger — general damages (pain and suffering, loss of amenities, disfigurement) assessed by reference to comparative awards — special damages require strict proof.
9 April 2021
A dismissed defence force member is entitled to statutory terminal benefits under Defence Force regulations and compensation for unfair dismissal.
  • Employment law — applicability of Employment Act to armed forces — Defence Force Act and regulations govern dismissal remedies; unlawful dismissal; terminal benefits — one month’s pay per completed year; compensation for future loss of earnings and pension; interest on terminal benefits.
8 April 2021
Ex parte interlocutory injunction denied where claimed urgency was self-created and the applicant unreasonably delayed seeking relief.
  • Civil procedure — Interlocutory injunction — Ex parte urgent relief — Urgency must not be self-created — Unexplained delay and observed development defeat claim of extreme urgency — Order 10 CPR.
8 April 2021
High Court denied leave for judicial review because original jurisdiction over labour disputes lies with the Industrial Relations Court.
  • Judicial review — leave to apply — labour disputes — jurisdiction — Industrial Relations Court as forum of original jurisdiction — High Court limited to appellate competence.
6 April 2021
Insurer settlements do not bind an absent insured; contributory negligence and inevitable accident raised triable issues, defeating summary judgment.
  • Summary judgment — Order 12 r.23(1) — realistic prospect test; Insurer settlement/non-contest — binding effect on insured who did not participate; Defences of contributory negligence and inevitable accident — triable issues; Abuse of process — striking out defence.
6 April 2021
Conviction based on recent possession unsafe where accused’s credible explanation and uncertain transfer dates are unrebutted.
  • Criminal law — Burglary and theft — Recent possession of stolen goods — Rebuttable presumption — Explanation consistent with innocence — Conviction unsafe where dates and provenance of property uncertain.
1 April 2021