Republic v Pierra Muthoni Francis [2018] KEHC 2559 (KLR)

REPUBLIC OF KENYA

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT CHUKA

HCCR NO. 5 OF 2018

REPUBLIC....................................PROSECUTOR

VERSUS

PIERRA MUTHONI FRANCIS..........ACCUSED

J U D G M E N T

1. PIERRA MUTHONI FRANCIS, the accused herein is charged with the  offence of murder contrary to Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the  Penal Code.  The particulars as per the information present  in this court are  that on the 1st February, 2018 at Kambani village Muiru Sub-Location,   Kithangani Location within Tharaka -Nithi County murdered one Severino  Mate Francis (hereinafter to be referred to as the deceased).

2. The accused person herein has been convicted of the said offence upon her  own plea of guilty.  She has unequivocally admitted the facts that she  committed the murder.  The state through the office of Director of Public  Prosecution  has submitted that they have no previous records and so the  accused person be treated as a first offender.

3. The accused person has in mitigation prayed for leniency saying she is a  bread winner in her family.  She further insisted that she committed the  murder in self defence stating that the deceased was the aggressor who  wanted to stop her love affair with an Akorino man.  She further contended  that the deceased confronted her with a knife and in the  process of  struggle, she stabbed the deceased who fell down and later died  from the  injuries.

4. The actions taken by the accused herein cannot be justified in any way.  She  had no right to take the life of her brother the deceased despite the objections  which he might have raised regarding her relationship with an unnamed  Akorino man.  I have carefully considered the facts presented to this court  regarding the surrounding circumstances that led to the murder of the  deceased.  It is clear from the facts that the accused is a single mother of five  children and her late father is said to have given her a share of land to settle  which arrangements appears not to have gone down well with the deceased  and his son.  It was against that background that the deceased and his son got  incensed when they observed a relationship going on between the accused  and an Akorino man.  The quarrels that arose after the deceased and her son  went to the  house of the accused to question the said relationship  seemed to have triggered a fight between the accused and deceased which  resulted into the deceased being stabbed with a kitchen knife. This court  observed the kitchen knife produced as P. Exhibit 1 and I noted that the  same is a normal ordinary kitchen knife commonly found in many households.  The action to stab the deceased though cruel appears not to  have been really premeditated notwithstanding the plea of guilty by the  accused person.

5. Having found her guilty on her own plea and having considered the above  mitigating circumstances and further in light of the Supreme Court's decision  in FRANCIS KARIUKO MURUATETU & ANOTHER -vs- REPUBLIC (Const. Petition No.15& 16 /2015), this court is now alive to the fact that    a murder charge does not necessarily attract mandatory death sentence  pursuant to the provisions of  Section 204 of the Penal Code.  This court's  hands are not tied to only one  sentence prescribed thereat that provision. This court finds that the accused person deserves to have a chance to reform  and perhaps learn to contain her anger which could have led her commit the  heinous crime. She is hereby sentenced to serve 5 (five) years in prison and  thereafter serve 2 years on probation to be supervised by a social worker  near her home.  She has 14 days Right of Appeal.

Dated, signed and delivered at Chuka this 7th day of November, 2018.

R.K. LIMO

JUDGE

7/11/2018

Judgment signed, dated and delivered in the presence of Mutani  holding brief for Kijaru for accused and Machirah for State.

R.K. LIMO

JUDGE

7/11/2018