Michael Nderitu, a man who stabbed his wife, who was sentenced to death will now serve 20 years in jail on appeal.
The Court of Appeal substituted Nderitu’s murder charge with manslaughter.
Nderitu was convicted in December 2009 of stabbing his wife Anne Nyambura in the stomach with a knife over chang’aa in Eastleigh.
In their ruling, Judges Erastus Kithinj, Wanjiru Karanja and Ole Kantai said there was sufficient evidence that Nderitu and his wife constantly fought and quarrelled.
“Theirs was a fight between spouses where excessive force was used, they said. However, malice was not proved,” they added.
“Having re-evaluated the evidence, we’ve come to the conclusion that the appellant should have been convicted of the offence of manslaughter, contrary to Section 202 of the Penal Code as read with Section 205 of the Code,” they ruled.
Nderitu appealed the High Court death sentence in 2017 on the ground that he was convicted on insufficient evidence. He said the court erred in law by failing to evaluate the entire evidence as the prosecution evidence was contradictory and inconsistent.
Prosecution witness Duncan Mwenda said the convict had a knife and the wife screamed, attracting the attention of other residents.