Man in friends murder case sentence reduced to manslaughter

Man in friends murder case sentence reduced to manslaughter

David Waithaka is a relieved man after a Court of Appeal sitting in Nakuru reduced his sentence from 30 years to 12 years in jail after his charges were reduced from murder to man slaughter.

Waithaka had been sentenced to 30 years in prison on May 10, 2013 after being charged with the killing of his longtime friend, Francis Kimotho, at Ndongino location, Nyandarua County on June 25, 2010.

The two were taking beer on that fateful day before deciding to spend the night at Waithaka’s house. Waithaka’s neighbor, Joseph Maina, told the court that he heard commotion from Waithaka’s house with a voice saying: ‘stop beating me, if I die you will take responsibility.”

The following day, Maina found Kimotho’s lifeless body on the floor while Waithaka had already went into hiding.

A split piece of wood and a shirt, both with stains of blood, were found and the DNA extracts tallied with that of the deceased.

In his defense, Waithaka told the Court that they kept on falling on their way home as they were drunk.

“It was around 8:00 pm and it had rained heavily. Kimotho kept falling and in the process hurt himself. The wounds were as a result from a fight he had at the club with another customer but I separated them though he sustained some injuries,” Waithaka told the court.

The Court of Appeal Judges, Roselyn Nambuye, Phillip Waki and Patrick Kiage, in their ruling stated that the High Court Judge made a mistake for not appreciating that the prosecution did not convince the court beyond reasonable doubt and never listened to the appellant’s defense.

Through lawyer Peter Chege, Waithaka told the court that the blood stains on his clothes were as a result of the instances he helped him when he was falling.

“The two had no feuds at any time before since they were longtime friends. It could be possible that he died after sustaining injuries from the frequent time he fell down. No-one witnessed the appellant killing him,” Chege said.

The State Prosecutor had applied to have the sentence reviewed from 30 years to death which the defence counsel objected since the prosecution failed to convince the court beyond reasonable doubts.

“We are thus satisfied that the appellant inflicted the injuries that led to the deceased’s death. What we are not as certain about, however, is whether the said injuries were actuated by malice aforethought. They were close friends and often seen together,” read part of the judgment.

The three judge bench also established that the appellant also has some injuries that could suggest that the two had fought leading to Kimotho’s death.

“There is evidence also that the appellant’s blood as opposed to the deceased blood being found on the split piece of wood that was erroneously thought to be the weapon used to inflict the deceased’s injuries,” the judgment read.

The Judges further concluded that there was a possibility that Waithaka was defending himself since a witness Maina Mwangi had heard the two arguing.

“This renders conviction of murder unsafe,” the Judges ruled.

“To that extent, only this appeal succeeds. The conviction of murder has been quashed and substituted with one for manslaughter.”

The Judges further argued that the appellant ought to have served a death sentence and not 30 years.

“The sentence has been substituted with a sentence of twelve years effective from the day of sentence by the trial court,” concluded the judgment.

Written by Ronald Kibet

Tags:

murder Patrick Kiage Roselyn Nambuye Man slaughter Nakuru Court of Appeal Phillip waki

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