KENYA: WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER

A Kenyan woman who strangled her two-year-old daughter to death after an overnight prayer session at a local church has been sentenced to hang by a Kakamega court.
Kakamega High Court Judge Ruth Sitati found Jackline Liyema Mukoto guilty of murdering her daughter Dorine Nanjala Mukoto on July 1, 2013 at Namukhokhome Village, Bunyala East Location in Kakamega County.
“From the circumstances, the only person who could know what happened to the deceased is the accused person. Her defence is that of denial. Her explanation that she regained her consciousness while in police cells was not substantiated. None of the witnesses who testified said the accused lost consciousness at any one time or was beaten by anybody,” said the judge.
The mother, however, told the court that when the crime was committed she saw herself in “heaven”. Mukoto, added that she heard a voice telling her that she was in heaven.
“The court ordered for the mental assessment and the result was that she was fit to take plea. The court also examined her after she had given her defence and properly responded by stating her name and repeating what she had said on cross-examination,” Justice Sitati ruled.