A convict who moved to the Eldoret High Court to appeal...

A convict who moved to the Eldoret High Court to appeal a seven-year jail sentence for robbery was instead sentenced to death. High Court Judge Mr Justice Omondi Tunya quashed Peter Ndungu's bid to have the magistrate court's decision reversed. He instead set aside the sentence meted out by the magistrate and substituted the conviction with a death penalty.
Ndung'u had been charged that on May 29, 1999, at Huruma estate in Eldoret, jointly with others not before court and armed with crude weapons, he violently robbed Gerald Ng'ang'a of a wrist watch worth Sh750, a wallet and pay slip all worth Sh1,300.
While passing the earlier sentence, Eldoret Principal Magistrate Lucy Gitari had lessened the charge facing Ndung'u from robbery with violence to robbery. She sentenced him to seven years in jail with five strokes of the cane. After his conviction, Ndung'u filed an appeal in the High Court in Kiswahili arguing that the judgement had aggrieved him since the prosecution had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that he had committed the offence. But Tunya dismissed his claims, saying that the victim positively identified Ndung'u as he had clearly seen his attackers during the incident. Tunya further noted that Ndung'u was found with the stolen items following his arrest.
"The burden of proof was discharged accordingly by the prosecution and the appeal against the conviction must thus be dismissed," ruled Tunya.
He also said that Gitari was not justified in convicting the accused on a lesser charge as the accused together with an accomplice had used actual violence by stabbing and injuring the complainant with a sword and should have been charged under Section 262 (2) of the Penal Code.