It was a usual routine for Rose Mwikali Wambui when she left her place of work at 5 pm on May 9, 2014, and boarded a vehicle home.
She alighted at Ndarugu within Kiambu County and began walking home through a maize plantation.
As she walked, she noticed a man, whom she recognized as John Mwanzia alias Nzilai, walking behind her.
Nzilai would suddenly hit Rose twice on the head with a stick, injuring her as she started bleeding.
Not done with the offensive act, he moved in front of Rose and hit her again but she took hold of the stick.
The two struggled but Rose soon lost the fight when her attacker hit her on the elbow, making her let go of the weapon.
Knowing that he had subdued her, Nzilai demanded that she give him her money.
With no alternative, she pointed to her handbag and he took the Sh500 that was in there.
Nzilai then asked her if she knew him, but Rose feigned ignorance fearing for her life.
The man would then threaten her with death if she reported what had just happened to her.
An injured Rose struggled to get home and narrated her ordeal to her children and daughter-in-law who were concerned on why her blouse was bloody.
She was taken to a local clinic for treatment and then to Nyasaba Police Post where she reported that Nzilai had attacked her.
She also went to Thika Hospital for further examination and filling of the P3 Form.
The doctor said Rose had suffered a cut on her head 3 cm deep and there were injuries on the scalp area and elbow left joint. That the injuries had been inflicted by a sharp object.
Nzilai was arrested and presented before the Chief Magistrates Court at Thika and charged with the offence of robbery with violence contrary to the law.
During the hearing, Rose said she knew the man because she used to see him at Nyahu’s place along the path where the attack took place.
When he was placed on his defence, Nzilai said he was arrested by three people on an unstated date while going to work.
He said he knew nothing about the offence.
Satisfied by the prosecution's case, the trial court convicted Nzilai and sentenced him to death.
Aggrieved, he filed an appeal to the High Court at Kiambu where his conviction failed.
His sentence was however interfered with and reduced to a 16-year jail term.
Unsatisfied with the High Court's decision to uphold the conviction, Nzilai moved to the Court of Appeal.
He argued that he was not properly identified.
He prayed the court to quash the conviction, set aside the sentence and set him at liberty unless otherwise lawfully held.
Nzilai also sought for compensation for what he argued was breach of his constitutional rights to life, freedom and security and his right to a fair trial and appeal.
The appellate judges went through the case record and found that Rose had identified Nzilai, as they struggled for the stick and even talked.
She also knew him prior to the 6 pm attack.
On the breach of rights, the court said it did not have jurisdiction over the prayers sought.
"Those questions should have been raised at the High Court whose Constitutional and Human Rights division is equipped to consider violations of rights in appropriate petitions where evidential material is placed before that court for investigations," the judgment reads.
Further, judges Asike-Makhandia, Sankale Ole Kantai and Mwaniki Gachoka noted that Nzilai's sentence had been reduced following the holding by the Supreme Court in Francis Kariako Muruatetu v Republic.
In the case, the Court held that the mandatory death penalty prescribed in Section 204 of the Penal Code for the offence of murder is unconstitutional.
"The appellant is lucky to have received that benefit as the Supreme Court in the latter case of Francis Kariako Muruatetu & Others v Republic stated that its holding in the earlier case (today called Muruatetu 1) only applied to cases involving murder," they added.
The court found that the appeal lacked merit and dismissed it in a judgement delivered on September 22.
Nzilai is set to continue with the 16-year imprisonment sentence.
