Dead end for man who killed mum over bhang

Growing up, Melikizedeki Laban always disobeyed his parents and mixed with the wrong crowd, something that would lead him to early exposure to drugs and, finally, drop out of school at Standard 7.

Now aged 37, jobless and without a family of his own, he is set to begin a 25-year jail term after he killed his mother for refusing to give him money for bhang at their home in Vihiga in June 2019.

A pre-sentencing report dated February 4 this year says Laban’s family rejected him after the murder.

In fact, they wanted him jailed for life, if not dragged to the gallows. 

After dropping out of school, Laban worked as a farmhand in different towns before returning home, where he always harassed his mother, demanding cash to sustain his lifestyle.

“He lived and worked in Kakamega, Mosoriot, Syokimau and Kinangop before returning home where he would demand money from his mother to buy bhang and alcohol,” the pre-sentencing report says.

“He had no health complications. His behaviour was influenced by drug abuse and negative peer influence.”

A postmortem report shows the mother died from “sharp force trauma due to assault.”

The court said “the nature of the injuries sustained showed the malice that he had and showed his intention of killing his mother.”

Laban, in his mitigation, pleaded for a non-custodial sentence because “he was not married but was looking forward to starting a family.”

He also admitted to drug use, which he attributed to peer pressure, that led him to killing his own mother.

The pre-sentencing report said the family “did not want to be associated with him as their customs prohibited him from mingling with them as they considered him as an outcast.”

“His father asks that he be jailed for life. It said that the local administration sought a custodial sentence for the safety of the community and the safety of the accused person,” the report added.