Embu court sentences four men to death

Four men were on Wednesday sentenced to death by an Embu court for robbery with violence.

The four were sent to the hangman’s noose by Embu Principal Magistrate Paul Biwott after they were found guilty of robbing a man off his valuables in 2012 while armed with crude weapons.

The court heard that the robbery victim was admitted at the intensive care unit after he was seriously injured during the incident.

In 2009, thousands of convicted Kenyans awaiting their appointment with the hangman had their fates reversed when in one swoop the then President Mwai Kibaki commuted their death sentences to live imprisonment.

When President Mwai Kibaki announced he was commuting all death sentences to life in prison, Kenya moved toward eliminating the death penalty.

His action reduced by a fifth the 20,000 prisoners facing execution around the world.

Kibaki signalled intentions to abolish the death penalty altogether, but first called for a study to determine whether Kenya’s mandatory death sentence for murder, armed robbery or treason actually deters crime.

ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

His move reflects a trend beyond Europe and elsewhere to abolish the capital punishment.

By Kenyan law, armed robbery carries a mandatory death sentence — for bank robbers with submachine guns or someone using a stick to snatch a chicken.

Even though the death penalty has not been carried out since 1983, the population on death row kept expanding.

In a landmark judgment, Kenya’s Court of Appeal sitting in Nairobi on July 30, 2010 declared unconstitutional the application of a mandatory death sentence on all prisoners convicted of murder.

In their unanimous judgment, the Court of Appeal ruled that the automatic nature of the death penalty in Kenya for murder violates the right to life and amounts to inhuman punishment, as it does not provide the individuals concerned with an opportunity to mitigate their death sentences.

As a result, hundreds of prisoners currently on death row in Kenya, including the Appellant, Godfrey Mutiso, were given a reprieve.

The Court of Appeal said that the same reasoning given in the judgment would apply to other offences having a mandatory death sentence, such as treason and robbery with violence (section 296/2 Penal Code).

Kenya yet to expressly abolish the death sentence