Kenyan woman gets death sentence for boyfriend's murder
Fri Jul 20, 2018 12:14:pm Africa
6.2K By Obiaks Blog
A Kenyan woman dubbed the "prison beauty queen" by Kenya's media has been sentenced to death by hanging for killing her boyfriend.
Ruth Kamande was arrested and charged with the murder for stabbing her 24-year-old boyfriend Farid Mohammed to death. Kamande had defended her action as self-defence, testifying during trial that her boyfriend threatened to kill her when she found out he was HIV-positive.
She told the court: "Mohammed told me that he would rather kill me and himself than have his status exposed. l stabbed him severally using a kitchen knife, which fell on my chest from his hands after I overpowered him, after putting my two thumbs in his eyes to save my life."
But the Judge, Jessie Lessit said Kamande showed no mercy and still shows no remorse for the killing, adding that she deserves nothing less than death.
"She stabbed again and again and took pleasure in it. It wasn't at a go, there were intervals," Judge Lessit said.
Human Rights group, Amnesty International have condemned the ruling calling it "cruel, inhumane and outdated" and urged Kenya's High Court to reverse its decision.
The body said, if enforced, it would be "a blow to the country's 'progressive record in commuting death sentences to terms of imprisonment' " as it has not enforced hanging as a capital punishment since 1987.
Arrested at 21, Kamande has been held in Lang'ata women's jail in Nairobi, where she won a prisoners' beauty pageant.
Ruth Kamande was arrested and charged with the murder for stabbing her 24-year-old boyfriend Farid Mohammed to death. Kamande had defended her action as self-defence, testifying during trial that her boyfriend threatened to kill her when she found out he was HIV-positive.
She told the court: "Mohammed told me that he would rather kill me and himself than have his status exposed. l stabbed him severally using a kitchen knife, which fell on my chest from his hands after I overpowered him, after putting my two thumbs in his eyes to save my life."
But the Judge, Jessie Lessit said Kamande showed no mercy and still shows no remorse for the killing, adding that she deserves nothing less than death.
"She stabbed again and again and took pleasure in it. It wasn't at a go, there were intervals," Judge Lessit said.
Human Rights group, Amnesty International have condemned the ruling calling it "cruel, inhumane and outdated" and urged Kenya's High Court to reverse its decision.
The body said, if enforced, it would be "a blow to the country's 'progressive record in commuting death sentences to terms of imprisonment' " as it has not enforced hanging as a capital punishment since 1987.
Arrested at 21, Kamande has been held in Lang'ata women's jail in Nairobi, where she won a prisoners' beauty pageant.
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