Does a crime victim have a right to be heard before the Government pardons a convicted person, reduces their sentence or allows them to serve it outside prison?

This question is at the centre of a case filed by Lindsay Soila against the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Elizabeth Matayan.

Before High Court Judge Roselyn Aburili, Soila wants Matayan returned to prison to complete a 10-year sentence imposed by a magistrate’s court. She claims the sentence was substituted with three years’ probation and six months of anger management counselling without her knowledge or involvement.

Through her lawyer, Elkana Mogaka, Soila argues that she was neither notified of the decision nor given an opportunity to express her views before Matayan’s release.

“The petitioner, who bears permanent blindness as a daily reminder of the crime, was deliberately denied her mandatory statutory right to be notified, served, heard or allowed to present her fears and objections regarding the release of her attacker,” Mogaka argued.

He further accused the DPP of failing to protect the victim’s interests under Article 157(11) of the Constitution by allowing the release without hearing her.

Soila wants Matayan returned to Lang’ata Women’s Prison and barred from approaching, contacting, stalking or threatening her, or coming within one kilometre of her home or business premises. She maintains that Matayan has shown no remorse for the attack that left her permanently blind in her left eye.

According to court documents, the incident occurred on September 9, 2023, at Lang’ata Shopping Centre in Nairobi, where Soila was with Amos Andayi Omwenga.

The two women have conflicting accounts of their relationship with Omwenga. Soila describes him as her partner, while Matayan told the criminal court that he was her boyfriend.

Soila claims that she and Omwenga were in a vehicle parked at the shopping centre when Matayan allegedly attacked them without provocation. She accused Matayan of hitting the vehicle windows with a wooden club and stones, shattering the passenger window beside which she was seated.

Despite undergoing emergency surgery at several hospitals, Soila says she lost sight in her left eye permanently.“Living as a young woman with the permanent loss of an eye is a daily, heart-wrenching reminder of that violent night. My youth, career path, confidence and peace of mind were shattered in a matter of seconds,” she stated.

However, Matayan gave a different account during the criminal trial. She told the court that Omwenga had invited her to meet him at their usual liquor store after initially cancelling their plans because of work commitments.

When she arrived, she found his vehicle parked with its lights on and Soila seated in the front passenger seat. She said she knocked on the window but received no response before moving to the driver’s side to wake Omwenga.

In the criminal appeal, Justice Diana Kavedza upheld Matayan’s 10-year prison sentence for grievous harm and a Sh10,000 fine for malicious damage. Failure to pay the fine would attract an additional six months in prison. The new case will be mentioned on November 10, 2026.