Man sentenced to death for robbery with violence

For David Kimani, January 27, 2006 was an ordinary day as he walked home after attending a church meeting a few meters from a local dumpsite in Likoni, Mombasa County.

It was late but feeling safe, he was not startled when three men including George Walusumbi, who worked at the dumpsite, emerged from behind a fig tree and started walking towards him.

The street was well lit and Kimani was able to identify Walusumbi who he knew since he would meet him rummaging through the dumpsite everyday.

The three men passed Kimani chatting but as soon as they passed him they went silent. Kimani turned around to find out what was wrong and was immediately hit on the head with an iron bar and a stone and he fell down.

Disoriented and unable to defend himself, the three emptied his pockets of Sh10,000, a mobile phone, his identity and ATM cards.

As the men ran away, Kimani raised the alarm as he tried to ran after them. Luckily, his fellow churchgoers heard his calls for help and they chased the three men. The trio split but the churchgoers were able to catch up to Walusumbi who they then apprehended.

Meanwhile, two police officers on patrol in the area heard the commotion and rushed to the scene. They found Walusumbi pinned down and immediately arrested him and took him to Likoni Police Station while Kimani was rushed to Coast General Hospital where he was treated for his injuries. Walusumbi appeared before the Chief Magistrate charged with robbery with violence. He was sentenced to death after he chose not to defend himself.

He moved to the Court of Appeal where he said Kimani could have made a mistake in identifying him.

However, justices Milton Makhandia, Wiliam Ouko and Kathurima M’inoti dismissed the allegations saying while a witness can mistake the identity of an individual, Kimani had recognised Walusumbi when the three men walked towards him.

Walusumbi was well known to Kimani and given the circumstances would not have mistaken him for someone else.

They threw out Walusumbi’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s ruling.