The High Court in Nairobi has sentenced a 33-year-old man to six years in prison for manslaughter following a fatal stabbing during a barroom quarrel in June 2023.
The ruling, delivered by Justice Kanyi Kimondo on July 8, 2025, closed a case that had seen strong pleas for leniency from the accused set against the grief of a family still demanding a harsh penalty.
The accused, Joseph Kung’u Ng’ang’a, had initially faced a charge of murder over the killing of Perminus Githendu alias G-man, but under a plea agreement recorded in March this year, he admitted guilt to the lesser but related offence of manslaughter.
The facts presented showed that on the evening of June 10, 2023, the deceased and the accused were together at a bar, drinking alcohol and chewing miraa in the company of another man, Patrick Mureithi.
Witnesses said the accused and the deceased got into a heated quarrel, which was calmed down by Mureithi.
The men stayed at the bar until closing time at around 11 pm.
Later that night, at about 1 am, Githendu went to a miraa joint in an area run by one Evangeline Njoki.
There, the accused appeared again, this time armed with a knife.
“Around 0100 hours on June 11 2023, the accused arrived brandishing a knife and stabbed the deceased on the left thigh. The deceased was rushed to a hospital in Utawala and later to another hospital where he succumbed to the injuries,” the judgement read.
According to the judgment, the accused fled the scene but was arrested a kilometre away, with the weapon recovered from him.
A postmortem by government pathologist Peter Ndegwa confirmed that the cause of death was exsanguination due to vascular injury from sharp force trauma, consistent with the facts read out and admitted in court.
During sentencing, the prosecution counsel acknowledged that the accused was a first offender but urged the court to consider the gravity of the offence.
She emphasised that a young life had been lost through an act of violence and that the impact on the victim’s family could not be ignored.
She reminded the court that manslaughter, though lesser than murder, is still a serious felony punishable by life imprisonment and argued that deterrence and justice for the family demanded a severe custodial term.
The defence counsel, however, asked the court to show mercy.
He said the accused had taken responsibility, spared the court a full trial by accepting the plea agreement, and demonstrated remorse.
“The defence counsel said that the accused is young, remorseful and was extending an apology to the victims through the court. He added that the accused has undergone reform in prison and pleaded for leniency, preferably a non-custodial sentence,” read part of the judgment.
The court also had before it a pre-sentencing report filed by Probation Officer Kiriga Kimani.
It confirmed that the accused was a first offender aged 33 and appeared genuinely remorseful, requesting a second chance.
However, the report also documented the sentiments of the victim’s family.
They expressed deep bitterness, noting that their kin’s life had been cut short in his prime. They said they had suffered emotionally and psychologically and stressed that the accused’s family had not sought reconciliation.
They asked the court to impose the maximum penalty allowed by law.
Justice Kimondo weighed the competing considerations carefully.
He found that while the accused had shown remorse and pleaded guilty, his actions carried serious aggravating elements.
“The fact that he used a knife to slice off a major blood vessel on the victim’s thigh and he ran away remains an aggravating factor. It is also clear that the family of the victim is still hurting, and no reconciliation has taken place,” the judge observed.
The judge concluded that only a custodial sentence could reflect the gravity of the offence.
He rejected the defence plea for a non-custodial sentence, stating that manslaughter is a grave felony and that punishment should be commensurate with both the nature of the crime and the moral blameworthiness of the offender.
In the end, the judge sentenced the accused to six years in
prison, with the term running from June 11, 2023, the date he was first
arrested and placed in custody.
