Kenyan man to hang for bashing girl's head on tree stump

A casual labourer has been sentenced to hang for the murder of a five-year-old girl by bashing her head into a tree stump.

The Court of Appeal rejected the claim by Moses Mbaya alias Mbara Mbura that the girl accidentally slipped from his hands as he flung her into the air.

He blamed the incident on alcohol but the High Court, which first convicted him of the 2010 murder, and the Court of Appeal, which rejected his appeal, dismissed his defence.

It all began in the morning when the family of Muriuki (the court protected his identity because minors testified during the case) woke up at his home in Uruku location, Meru in a joyous mood.

After having breakfast together since it was a weekend, Mr Muriuki’s three daughters went out to play. They did not leave their compound.

CASUAL LABOURER

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  Man surrenders to police after killing his estranged wife
• 
  Family split over cause of kin's death
• 
  Civil servants face the axe as Ruto seeks to ease ballooning wage bill
• 
  Suspect narrates chilling details in case on serial women murders

Then one of the casual labourers, Mr Mbaya, who used to cut nappier grass for the cows, arrived in the compound.

One of the elder girls told the court that Mbaya grabbed their five-year-old sister by the legs and threw her into the air. She fell hitting her head on a tree trunk. The two rushed to the scene screaming.

The screams attracted Muriuki and his wife who rushed out of the house. Mercy, one of the first neighbours to respond to the distress call, found the Muruikis gathered in one of corner of the compound screaming.

She called for a ‘boda boda’ and together with the parents, rushed the child to the hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

As the news of the tragic incident spread across the village, a charged crowd roughed up Mbaya and detained him. Quick intervention by police, however, saved him.

FOUND GUILTY

In court, Mbaya denied the charge before Justice James Makau prompting a trial in which the prosecution called six witnesses.

Mbaya denied he intentionally hit the child’s head on the tree trunk within the compound.

On April 18, 2013 Justice Makau found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to death, but he appealed the ruling.

The accused used excessive force to hit the deceased against a tree trunk ‘Exhibit 1’ more than once. The head is a very sensitive area and especially for a child of tender years,” ruled Makau.