A mother of four was sentenced to death by a Kenyan...

A mother of four was sentenced to death by a Kenyan High Court for murdering her nine-year-old niece. Beatrice Wanjiru Kinyua, 35, was convicted by Justice Vitalis Juma for murdering Rose Muriuki.
The court was told that Wanjiru stabbed the girl on the neck on June 21, 1999 at Kirogo village, Kirinyaga district, before disappearing from home for the whole day.
The slain girl's 12-year-old brother told Justice Juma that he was resting under a cassava tree outside their father's house when the woman entered the house carrying a knife. He dashed into the house when he heard his sister scream. He recalled how he saw the accused stab the girl with the knife on the neck.
The girl's mother, Anne Wawira Muriuki said there had been a long standing family dispute with Wanjiru. But Justice Juma ruled out the dispute as the cause of the girl's killing, saying the prosecution based its case solely on the evidence of the boy who witnessed the murder.
He said the crime was committed in broad daylight and that the witness knew the accused, who was his aunt, and was therefore able to identify her.