• In the case, Mukenya was on November 4, 2011 arraigned in Mumias and charged with robbery with violence.
• He was armed with a jembe, assaulted his mother and also threatened to rape her.
A Kakamega man sentenced to death for violently robbing his mother Sh4,500 will serve 30 years in jail after a successful appeal of his death sentence.
Court of Appeal justices Roselyn Nambuye, Hanna Okwengu and Fatuma Sichale considered the value of the property robbed, the gravity of the injuries suffered, and whether the appellant had a chance to mitigate at the trial.
They found that there was no mitigation and the court handed the maximum sentence possible at the time, hence the death penalty to William Mukenya. The justices said the position has changed in light of the jurisprudential precedent set by the Supreme Court.
“The ends of justice to both the victim and the appellant will best be served by setting aside the death penalty handed down against the appellant and substituting thereto a deterrent term of imprisonment,” they ruled on January 29.
In the case, Mukenya was on November 4, 2011 arraigned in Mumias and charged with robbery with violence.
The court heard that on the wee hours of the same day at Umalla Gulu village in Mumias, Mukenya broke into his mother Susan Mukenya’s house and robbed her of Sh4,500.
He was armed with a jembe, assaulted his mother and also threatened to rape her.
Mukenya denied the charges and prosecution called four witnesses.
The complainant testified that at 1am she heard a voice she recognised as her son’s calling from outside. She woke up to open the door but before she did he had already broken into the house.
She lit a tin lamp and was able to recognise him. He then attacked her and robbed her of her cash before she was rescued by a neighbour.
In his judgement principal magistrate H Wandere said that the accused's defence was a mere denial. “The evidence available in this matter boils down to recognition,” he said. He proceeded to convict Mukenya to a death sentence.
Aggrieved, Mukenya filed an appeal at the High Court. He alleged that his mother had a grudge with him over his wife's involvement with illicit brew business.
They ruled that the allegations were an afterthought since he never raised them at the trial court.
In a judgement delivered on July, 24, 2015 the judges affirmed the conviction and sentencing of the magistrate's court.
On June 2, last year, Mukenya filed a second appeal arguing the trial court erred by sentencing him to death without exploring other forms of punishment.
He submitted that he had been in custody for nine years and he ought not to have been given a maximum penalty for robbing Sh4,500.
But the prosecution asked the court to dismiss the appeal on grounds that the appellant is not remorseful to what he did to his mother.
In addition, they said that he has served nine years and there was no evidence he is a reformed person or will be a productive member of society.
The Court of Appeal bench considered the matter, affirmed his convicted and substituted the sentence to 30 years’ imprisonment.