- Ruth Kamande stabbed her boyfriend Farid Mohammed the aged 22, 22 times in 2015 within Buruburu estate
- She was sentenced to death with Justice Jessie Lesiit saying a lesser sentence would make her look like a hero
- The Judge said the sentence was meant to make young people know it’s not to cool to kill their lovers when they disagreed
- Kamande pleaded for lenient terms saying her 2 years in remand had helped her reform and she was remorseful
- Court of Appeal said there was no error in Lesiit’s judgement and upheld it
- Death sentence was declared unconstitutional in Kenya but Uhuru signed commutation documents converting them into life in prison terms
The Court of Appeal has upheld a death sentence against former Miss Lang’ata beauty pageant Ruth Kamande who was convicted of killing her boyfriend Farid Mohammed in 2015.
22 knife stabs
Kamande was accused of stabbing Mohammed, then 22, 22 times with a knife in Buruburu estate, inflicting injuries that led to his death.
In the High Court Sentence, Lady Justice Jessie Lesiit said that Kamande deliberately continued stabbing Mohammed knowing the injuries would cause death thus ruling out manslaughter in the 2017 ruling.
In her ruling, Lesiit said that the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the offence. \
Appeal of death Sentence
After the sentencing, Kamande appealed the sentence at the Court of Appeal which after reviewing the proceedings, evidence and verdict upheld Lesiit’s judgement.
Initially she said in her litigation that after staying in remand for two years and nine months she had learnt lessons and was remorseful of her actions.
Lesiit’s judgement came even after Kenya’s Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional.
Liberty to pass death sentence
She defended the decision saying the High Court was at liberty to exercise judicial discretion on the matter because the punishment was still stated in statutes.
“The decision to deliver another sentence and not death in capital offences should be only cases that deserve. Giving a lesser sentence could make the offender turn out like a hero,” Lesiit held.
It’s not cool to kill
The Judge was categorical that her verdict was to let young people know it was not a cool thing to kill their lovers whenever they had a disagreement.
“Don’t do it, it is cool to walk away and forgive,” Lesiit ruled.
The death sentence has never been executed in Kenya since 1987 when Kenya Airforce 1982 coup orchestrators Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras Oteyo Okumu were hanged for treason.
In 2016, President Uhuru Kenyatta helped solve the impasse surrounding death sentence by signing commutation documents that turned all all death sentences into life in prison jail terms.