Appeal judges uphold death verdict for cold-blooded killer

A machete, a knife, three packets of red poison and paraffin were "surprise gifts" he bought on his way to visit his in-laws'.

The peculiar cache of items were still tucked inside the clothes of James Mbatha as he coolly swallowed the cup of tea he was served while there on March 19, 2007.

He looked calm, but the tranquility was short-lived because hours later all hell would break loose at Manza Village in Machakos County. Details of how Mbatha brutally murdered his mother-in-law and three children, is a mystery that still puzzles residents of the remote village in Machakos.

Shortly after he had emptied his cup of tea, Mbatha revealed why he had travelled from Nairobi to Machakos.

He wanted his daughter back, she had been living with his in-laws for two years since he broke up with his wife.

But the in-laws refused to let the girl go back to the father. So he lost his cool and suddenly turned into a cold-blooded murderer.

He whipped out a machete and hacked his sister-in-law Regina Koki's cheek and then slashed her many times in the head and right shoulder.

Somehow Koki managed to sneak out, and ran to her brother's house screaming despite bleeding profusely and informed him that Mbatha was killing people.

The news took her brother Francis Mutuku by shock. He grabbed a bow and several arrows and proceeded to his mother's house.

But by the time he got there, Mbatha's madness had gone a notch higher. He had hacked his mother-in-law and three children to death including his daughter.

He had also set the house ablaze, before dragging the body of his daughter to the bedroom where he held onto her waist after gulping down the rat poison. He wanted to die with her. But this did not happen.

Mutuku kicked the door open, arrow ready. The fire had already spread across the house. Villagers came to assist Mutuku put out the fire.

While at it, they heard somebody cough in the bedroom, and that person turned out to be the same one who had brutally murdered an innocent woman and three children.

Police arrived later and rescued Mbatha from the angry mob. He was subsequently charged him with four counts of murder.

Justice Milton Makhandia of the High Court found him guilty and sentenced him to death on July 30, 2012.

Mbatha appealed this ruling but three years later, the Court of Appeal in Nairobi upheld the death sentence.

In their judgement, appellate judges Daniel Musinga, Mohammed Warsame and Phillip Waki ruled that Mbatha's defence that he had been framed for the murders by his in-laws did not hold water.