A man convicted of murder during the 2007/08 post election violence has been sentenced to death.
Peter Kipkemboi Ruto, 26, was convicted of murder in June 2012 after the High Court in Nakuru found him guilty of killing Kamau Kimani Thiong’o, 70, during the post poll chaos that followed the 2007 disputed presidential elections.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Nakuru held that Mr. Kipkemboi was rightly convicted.
Justices Roselyn Nambuye, Philomena Mwilu and Gatembu Kairu ruled that the trial court properly made its findings when it convicted Mr. Kipkemboi of murder.
However, the judges changed the life sentence imposed by Justice Roselyne Wendo of High Court to a death sentence.
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They ruled that the three prosecution witnesses’ evidence indicated that the charges leveled against Kipkemboi were factual.
Kipkemboi, alongside other raiders, are said to have stormed mzee Kamau’s home where they shot him with an arrow before Kipkemboi allegedly slashed him with a panga.
The judges stated that the witnesses who hid in a gulley clearly identified him having schooled and lived in the same village.
Kipkemboi, through his lawyer Bernard Ng’etich, accused the witnesses of giving differing testimonies of the incident.
When delivering her ruling on June 13th, 2012, Justice Wendo noted that adduced evidence showed clearly that Kipkemboi murdered the deceased in the company of others who were not before court.
