Daily Nation

KENYA - Female faces execution - Woman, 22, to hang for robbery

 A young mother who led a gang armed with axes and simis is to hang for 2 violent robberies, which netted her just Sh380.

 With three other women who are still at large, Paulina Amana robbed 2 men - 1 of Sh80 ($1) and the other of Sh300 ($3.75) - and slashed 1 of the men on the face, leaving him for dead.

 The gang also stole the men's ID cards, after cornering them late at night in Eldoret's Huruma estate.

 However, one of the victims fled and alerted the police who later arrested Amana, a 22-year-old former house girl, shortly after the attack.

 Amana, who has 1 child, admitted the 2 counts of violent robbery when she appeared at Eldoret Magistrates' Court in 1999, in spite of being warned repeatedly that the only sentence would be death.

 Her appeal against the death sentence was dismissed by a High Court judge in a decision announced at Eldoret, on Monday.

 In her appeal, heard in July last year, Amana confirmed admitting the 2 counts of violent robbery but blamed her 3 accomplices for leading her astray. She added that she had not understood the language of the court.

 But dismissing the appeal, Lady Justice Roselyn Nambuye ruled that Amana was fully warned of the consequences of pleading guilty and that her claim was "deliberately crafted" to win her freedom. The ruling was read by Mr Justice Omondi Tunya because Lady Justice Nambuye has since been transferred to Machakos.