A man in Kenya who beat his 15-year-old son to death while disciplining him in Kiambu County, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison reports Standard Media.
On May 30, 2014, the man was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the High Court but that judgement was quashed by the court of appeal.
After the appeal, the Court of appeal Judges substituted the conviction for the offence of manslaughter.
They sentenced the appellant to serve a prison term of 20 years with effect from May 21, 2009, when he was first arraigned before the High Court.
He is said to have killed his 15-year-old son on May 11, 2009, within Kiambu West, Kiambu District, “Consequently, and in conclusion, we hereby quash the conviction for the offence of murder and set aside the death sentence imposed on the appellant,” said the panel.
“On our part, we think the evidence on record cannot sustain the offence of murder as charged, tried and convicted,” the panel concluded. On May 11, 2009, at about 9.00.am Martha Wairimu Mburu, a resident of Rusingiti village, Kiambu testified that she was on her way home when she met the appellant riding on a bicycle. The appellant told her to move out of the road.
She complied and jumped to the side of the road. The appellant passed and rode ahead and reached his nearby home from where the witness said she heard the appellant shouting and making threats.
She also heard a child crying. As she watched the appellant’s house, she saw the appellant get out of his house “carrying a young child in his hands and put him down.” He instructed the child, the deceased, to get up and look after goats and chickens but the deceased retorted that he could not get up.
According to that witness, the deceased could not walk or move. The appellant then took a stick, with which he hit the deceased. The stick the appellant allegedly used to beat the deceased was produced before the trial court.
Alarmed by those events, she moved ahead and made a telephone call to the Assistant Chief, one Kahiu, and reported to him what she had witnessed. The Assistant Chief directed the deceased aunt to the Chief’s office where she proceeded.
There, she found the appellant’s father and on reporting what she had witnessed, she was assigned two administration police officers in the company of whom she returned to the appellant’s house and found the appellant there. The deceased had in the meanwhile been taken away by his aunt.
The appellant was then arrested and taken to the Chief’s office.
The Clinical Officer, Caston Nelson Ndungu, stated that on May 11, 2008 he was at his clinic, Sunrise Medical Clinic, situated at Rusigiti when, at about noon, the deceased, aged between 12 to 15 years old was brought into the clinic by his aunt.
He examined him. The deceased presented a history of having been beaten by his father. On examination, he was conscious but in great pain all over the body. He had minor bruises on the body and tenderness on the sternum.
In officer’s words, the boy “appeared quite tortured and tired.” He administered a strong pain reliever and recommended rest and released him.
Later that day, sister to the accused returned to the clinic and informed him that the boy’s situation had worsened.
He quickly went to the witness house only to find that the boy was dead.