Eldoret man slapped with two-year jail term for threatening to kill mother

A man who has been repeatedly abusing and threatening to kill his mother has been sentenced to two years in prison after the family consented to his imprisonment.

Walter Kimutai had been charged for uttering the words “I will kill you” thereby threatening Susan Kimutai who is his mother on February 13, 2018 at their California Estate home in Eldoret.

The accused pleaded guilty to the charges on February 19 when he appeared before Principal Magistrate Harrison Barasa and requested the court to allow him some time to reconcile with the parent.

“I accept that I uttered the words but I pray for leniency because I was under the influence of alcohol. I did not intend to disrespect and offend my mother,” he said.

The magistrate ordered the accused to be remanded in prison to pave way for preparation of a probation report which unfortunately worked against his wish of being pardoned.

According to Uasin Gishu Probation Officer’s Report Virginiah Kageni, Kimutai had been continuously offending the mother and his elder sister besides dropping out of school while in form three.

“The family confided to us that Kimutai who is a lastborn in a family of four children and has been disturbing the parents. He is said to have squandered money meant for his school fees in 2010 and thereafter indulged into excess drinking of alcohol,” the report stated.

The accused also acknowledged that the drinking habit and bad company was the cause of his problems and pledged for an opportunity to make things right.

However, the revelation that Kimutai had been charged in court in January 2017 for threatening the mother that ruined an opportunity for him to get a non-custodial sentence.

His mother who was in court told the magistrate that she had forgiven her son severally but he had persisted with threats that had made her to consider vacating her matrimonial home,

“The court has established the accused is a second offender and had been granted a two years’ non-custodial sentence. He has committed a similar offense before even the lenient sentence was over and therefore will be imprisoned for 24 months,” ruled Barasa.