East African Standard

KENYA: Death Row Convicts Freed

There was song and dance at the High Court in Nyeri when six men sentenced to hang about 9 years ago were set free by a two-judge appellate court.

Relatives of the condemned men wept after judges Micheal Khamoni and Hannah Okwengu made their pronouncements.

Duncan Mutugi, Joseph Mwaniki, James Miriti, Elijah Kabunga, Stephen Kinyua and Joseph Kinyua were told they were free to go home after their appeals were upheld.

They were convicted of robbing Njue Mwaniki of a motor vehicle and property on September 25 , 1997 at Kiamichiri village in Kirinyaga District while armed.

They were also charged with robbing Mary Wawira on the same day.

The judges said the prosecution's case was "full of fatal inconsistencies" and that the arresting officer was 'very economical with evidence".

The same officer, the court concluded, was full of contradictions as he could not say in whose house the stolen property had been recovered.

The doctor who filled the P3 forms which were presented as evidence, the, judges further said had not testified while the trial magistrate had failed to evaluate his evidence.

At the same time, Harison Mureithi Mutugi and Francis Wachira Muturi were also saved from the gallows after the court found that a medical doctor who had testified in the case had failed to give his qualifications.

The court found that either the trial magistrate had failed to record the doctors' credentials and the station he was working at when he gave his evidence or he,(the witness) was never told to do so.

The 2 were charged with robbing Peter Mureithi of a piece of meat, one packet of unga and Sh800 wounding him with machetes and iron bars on May 25, 2001.