Death sentence for man who withdrew money from deceased

An act of withdrawing Sh 26,600 from a deceased model's Mpesa account has handed a 34 year old man a death sentence at the Mombasa law court.

Robert Kinisu charged with violently robbing in an act that led to the model's death two years ago was yesterday slapped with a death sentence by Chief Magistrate Julius Nang’ea after he found him guilty.

Kinisu was charged alongside Ali Mkongo with the crime of robbery with violence, but Mkongo was acquitted because the prosecution could not prove he was involved in the violent act.

They two had denied that on June 7 ,2016, robbed Janet Asuna a cellphone, sandwich toaster, an iron box and a mobile charger at Kizingo area in Mombasa County armed with a wooden stool valued at 19,500 and during the time of robbery used personal violence and killed her. Janet was found bludgeoned to death in her mother's house in the upmarket Kizingo estate.

Nang’ea said the prosecution had proved its case against Kinisu and therefore warranted a death sentence for the accused person.

“The deceased suffered a brutal death and therefore the offender should be get a severe punishment for the same,” said Nang’ea.

A postmodern report produced in court revealed that the victim's death was caused by  blunt force inflicted by an object.

Evidence

The magistrate said the evidence that the deceased was beaten to death had been corroborated with the postmortem results.

He informed the accused person the circumstantial evidence produced in court by the prosecution proved that he was involved in the robbery.

He said evidence was tabled in court that Kinisu had withdrawn some money from the victim’s cellphone using his identification card.

The magistrate further alluded the fact that Robert gave an alibi defense before the court, it could not weaken the prosecution’s case.

Kinisu had informed the court that during the robbery, he had travelled up country for the burial of his aunt and produced in court a return ticket to and from Bungoma.

The magistrate further said that corroborating evidence made before the court by three Mpesa agents confirmed Robert withdrew money from the deceased phone which was adequate to convict the suspect.

“The same dates Robert said he was not in Mombasa, coincidentally are the same dates that he went withdrawing cash from the deceased's phone, which makes his evidence not strong before the court,” said Nang’ea.

“The burden of proof to show that the accused person was committed the offense lies with the prosecution, the accused persons defense cannot weaken the prosecution’s case,” added the magistrate.

While testifying in the matter, investigating officer Duncan Amoyo told the court that they suspected the deceased  was hit by a wooden stool on the head which caused her death.

“The deceased person had a head injury which according to the chief pathologist caused her death in a report produced before the court,” he added.

 “During the attack, several things were stolen including a phone belonging to the deceased, a decoder. The deceased was hit by a blunt object believed to be a wooden stool which was also recovered from the house while broken,” added Amoyo.

According to his testimony, the investigating officer said that the mother to the deceased reported that the wooden stool was not found in the previous place where it was placed and that it was broken when they later found it in the house.

Amoyo further testified that the prime suspect Kinisu was a person known to the family of the deceased and he repaired the deceased’s shoes on several occasions.

“The first accused person was known to the deceased and on several occasions brought home shoes belonging to the deceased after repairing them,” said Amoyo.