Republic v Cecilia [2023] KEHC 27346 (KLR)

Republic v Cecilia (Criminal Case E013 of 2022) [2023] KEHC 27346 (KLR) (11 October 2023) (Ruling)

Neutral citation: [2023] KEHC 27346 (KLR)

Republic of Kenya

In the High Court at Kajiado

Criminal Case E013 of 2022

SN Mutuku, J

October 11, 2023

Between

Republic

Prosecutor

and

Elizabeth Cecilia

Accused

Ruling

1. The accused, Elizabeth Cecilia, was initially charged with murder contrary to section 203 as read with section 203 of the Penal Code with the particulars of the offence showing that on 10th day of July 2022 at Kitengela Town in Isinya Sub-County in Kajiado County, murdered Frederick Mutali.

2. The accused had pleaded not guilty to this charge. Through a plea bargain agreement, the charge of murder was reduced to manslaughter. In Plea Bargain Agreement proceedings conducted on 4th July 2023, the accused pleaded guilty to manslaughter as per amended charge.

3. The facts of the case as presented by the prosecutor show that the accused and the deceased were living together as man and wife and that on 10th July 2022 both went to a pub called Njuguna’s on 9th July 2022 where they took alcohol the whole night. They left the pub in the morning at around 4. 00am and went home. On the way home, an argument ensued between them over a sim card, which argument continued until they reached home resulting in stabbing of the deceased by the accused. The deceased was admitted to Kitengela Medical where he succumbed to injuries. The matter was reported at Kitengela Police Station and recorded. The postmortem, conducted on 13th July 2022 confirmed death resulted from stab wounds at the abdomen and right lumbar regions.

4. The accused admitted the facts as correct.

5. This court convicted the accused on her own plea of guilty and fixed the mitigation hearing for 31st July 2023 and called for a Probation Report. During mitigation, Mr. Mukele for the accused told the court that the accused was a battered wife and that this would have come out clearly had the matter proceeded to full trial; that the accused was remorseful for causing the death of the deceased and that she has tried to reach out to the family of the deceased to apologize; that she took the victim to hospital after stabbing him and did not flee the scene; that she informed her mother that she had stabbed the deceased and that she has admitted the consequences of her actions.

6. In further mitigation, counsel told the court that the accused is a school dropout and was under age at the time of committing the offence and that she is praying for non-custodial sentence and a second chance at life.

7. Ms Nyaroita for the prosecution confirmed that the offense arose from gender-based violence and that at the time of committing the offence, the accused was under age.

8. I have read the pre-sentence report from the Probation Office. It is a favourable report. However, the report is not binding to the court and is only meant to demonstrate the circumstances under which the offence was committed and the attitude of the offender towards the offence.

9. I have considered the circumstances under which the offence was committed and the attitude of the accused both through the mitigation by her lawyer and the pre-sentence report. I have noted that the accused is remorseful and regrets causing the death of the deceased. I am alive to the fact that a life lost is irreplaceable and that no amount of jail term can bring back a life lost. However, an accused person must face the consequences of his/her actions if only to deter the offender from repeating the offence.

10. My view, after due consideration of the circumstances of this offence and the age of the accused at the time of the offence, is that serving a mix of custodial and non-custodial sentence for a period of specified time will be sufficient to pay the public debt for causing a loss of life. I therefore sentence the accused to serve one (1) year in jail after which she will be placed in non-custodial sentence under the supervision of a Probation Officer for three (3) years. During that time, she will benefit from clinical counselling.

11. It is so ordered.

DATED, SIGNED AND DELIVERED THIS 11TH OCTOBER, 2023. S. N. MUTUKUJUDGE