A family feud over land turned tragic when a
dispute between two brothers in Meru county ended in bloodshed.
After years of legal battles, the Court of Appeal in Nyeri has finally
sentenced Adriano Kithumbi to 25 years in prison for killing his brother, David
Muthengi M’Ruanda, during a heated confrontation in October 2014.
The judgment, delivered on July 4, 2025, revises
an earlier life sentence imposed on Kithumbi by the High Court in 2018.
The court, while upholding the conviction for murder, reduced the sentence,
citing the need for prisoners to know the length of their incarceration.
The case unfolded around a bitter and emotional
family conflict.
On the fateful day, the brothers’ centenarian mother, Marietta Nchoga, was
seated outside her house with Muthengi when the incident occurred.
Testifying in court, Nchoga recounted the painful moment when the disagreement
over land escalated.
“My son said he had been robbed of land and
asked his brother to leave. Then he hit him with a big stick. A struggle
followed, and I ran screaming for help,” she said.
Nchoga, who is over 100 years old and nearly blind, could not understand
why one of her sons would attack the other, especially since they had always
had a good relationship.
Fredrick Kibobori, the deceased’s son, rushed
to the scene after hearing his grandmother's screams.
He found his father lying in a pool of blood, his neck nearly severed.
“The appellant was holding a panga over my father,” he testified.
Kithumbi then chased Kibobori away while still wielding the panga.
Another witness, James Muthengi, also a son of
the deceased, told the court that he saw Kithumbi arrive at the compound
brandishing a panga and shouting about being denied family land.
From his home about 80 meters away, he watched in horror as his uncle
attacked his father.
The postmortem report confirmed the brutal
nature of the killing. Dr Wambugu testified that David died of massive
hemorrhage due to a deep cut on the neck.
Despite Kithumbi’s claims of acting in self-defense, the court found that
his actions were deliberate and fueled by malice.
The weapon, the body part targeted, and the severity of the injuries all
pointed to intent to kill.
Kithumbi had argued that the attack was
provoked.
He said his brother cut him first and that he was also assaulted by his
nephews.
“I swung my panga while trying to flee, and it accidentally hit my brother
on the neck. I didn’t mean to kill him,” he claimed.
He also stated that he lost the treatment notes that would have supported
his claim of injury.
The appeal judges, Justices Sankale ole Kantai,
Jessie Lesiit, and Abida Ali-Aroni, however, dismissed his defense.
“Kithumbi armed himself with a panga and struck his brother on the neck,”
they ruled.
“The action and the part of the body targeted, the weapon used, and the
severity of the injury were proof that the act was intended to kill.”
Although the court upheld the conviction, it acknowledged evolving
jurisprudence against indefinite sentences and the importance of clarity in
sentencing.
“We think Kithumbi is entitled to know how long he will serve in prison,”
the judges said.
The 69-year-old Kithumbi, who has been in
custody since 2014, will now serve a 25-year sentence starting from November
20, 2014.
“We set aside the life sentence awarded and substitute thereof a sentence of 25 years imprisonment from November 20, 2014, when the appellant (Kitumbi) appeared before the High Court of Kenya at Meru and took plea,” the judgment reads.
