On December 21, Boniface Lukoye, a 23-year-old orphan,...

On December 21, Boniface Lukoye, a 23-year-old orphan, was sentenced to death by Mombasa senior resident Magistrate Lydia Achode after he pleaded guilty to the offense he committed with 2 others barely 24 hours earlier. The sentence has been criticized by a number of institutions, including the Mombasa branch of the Law Society of Kenya and the Kenya Human Rights Commission, both of whom described the trial as a miscarriage of justice. Branch chairman Stewart Madzayo said that the speed with which the conviction and sentencing were carried out showed that the suspect was not made aware of the gravity of the offense and the penalty it carried. Mr Madzayo said before the plea was taken, the mental state of the suspect should have been checked and the nature of the charge considered. The Kenya Human Rights Commission called for the abolition of the death sentence, saying what transpired in the court was a clear injustice. "The provisions of Section 296(2) leave no room for mitigation. The fact that the accused attempted to mitigate after the conviction clearly means that he did not understand the gravity of the nature of the offense he was charged with." Mitigation in such a case is an exercise of futility because the court's hands are tied by the mandatory death sentence provided for by section 296(2). "In a nutshell, this is a complete mistrial and the matter ought to be reviewed," they said, adding that there were some provisions of the law which could have reduced the incident to simple robbery but added that these provisions were disregarded. "However, legal counsel from the court, not withstanding that it is highly commendable, can never be equated to legal defense counsel," said the human rights body.