Death sentence for Miss Lang’ata prison Ruth Kamande

Miss Lang’ata Prison 2016 beauty pageant winner Ruth Kamande has been sentenced to death for the murder of her boyfriend.

Ms. Kamande was found guilty of stabbing Farid Mohammed 22 times in 2015 in Nairobi.

Delivering her ruling, High Court judge Jessie Lesiit said she handed the maximum punishment to deter young people from engaging in such offences.

“I want young people to know that it is not cool to kill your boyfriend or girlfriend, even if you are disappointed or frustrated, don’t do it, it is good to walk away and thereafter forgive,” said the judge.

The court noted that the accused, in her mitigation, did not indicate that she acted out of anguish or despair.

“I find that the accused acted with clear intention to cause the deceased pain, suffering and death,” stated the judge.

The family of the late Farid Mohammed expressed satisfaction with the judgement.

“We want to confirm to Kenyans that there is justice in our courts, after 3 years of waiting, our prayers have come to pass, we finally have justice for Farid.” expressed Emma Wanjiku, aunt to the deceased.

Ms. Kamande, through her advocate, however, indicated intention to appeal the decision.

Judge Lesiit noted that her actions proved malice, therefore, convicted her for murder.

Ms Kamande’s advocate had urged the court to hand her a lenient jail sentence arguing that she had “established a close relationship with God” since being taken into custody in 2015.

The advocate told the court that Ms. Kamande had converted to Islam and had since become religious and prays five times a day.

The court further heard that the accused had enrolled to study theology education at the prison, an indication that her stay in custody had streamlined her.

The court was also told that Ms. Kamande was the only child to her single mum after her younger brother passed on.

“When arrested, the 21 years old then had just been enrolled at JKUAT to study Business, a dream which was shuttered by the circumstances here in,” submitted her advocate.

However, on their side, the prosecution urged the judge to hand Ruth Kamande a death penalty for being arrogant during the trial.

“The 24-year-old then, whose life was cut short is an orphan and had a task of provide for the rest of the family members, hence justice should prevail,” said the prosecution counsel.

Kamande, who has been in remand since 2015, had argued that things escalated after she discovered a hospital card which suggested that Mohammed was undergoing HIV treatment.

When she confronted her boyfriend about it, she claimed, he threatened her saying they would both rather die than have his HIV status known to the public.

The argument, according to the beauty pageant, got out of hand, when she discovered written letters from two other women.

Ms. Kamande claimed she stabbed her boyfriend with a kitchen knife after it fell on her as they were struggling on the ground.