KDF soldier found guilty of attempted murder released

Kenya Defence Forces [Photo: Courtesy]

A soldier sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to kill his colleague at a military camp is now a free man.

Mathew Kipkemboi Maiyo, who was serving at the Kenya Defence Forces as a senior private officer, walked to liberty after Justice Luka Kimaru found that the Court Martial erred in its findings.

He said the prosecution failed to establish its case to the required standard of proof beyond any reasonable doubt that Maiyo committed a civilian offence of attempted murder.

However, the judge upheld a decision by the military court to have Maiyo dismissed from KDF for unlawful discharge of ammunition.

In the case, Maiyo who was based at the military camp in Mandera County was assigned along with other soldiers to go rescue a military fuel tanker which had broken down.

When he returned to the camp, he went to the guard room to look for a rifle loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition that had been assigned to him and when he did not find it, he became agitated.

In the process, he had a bitter exchange of words with officer Said Abdi but other colleagues requested him to calm down.

However, when he found his rifle, officers on the ground heard a sound of ammunition fired and when they went to check, they saw Maiyo aiming the rifle at Abdi.

Abdi managed to escape behind the guard house as two more rounds were fired towards him. The other officers managed to convince Maiyo to surrender and handover the weapon to them.

He was arrested and charged before the Court Martial and was found guilty of attempting to murder his colleague and an alternative charge of unlawful discharge of ammunition.

The military court found him guilty of committing the first offence and slapped him with a life imprisonment sentence, while in the second count he was sentenced to 10 months in prison.

Aggrieved by the decision, Maiyo moved to the High Court where he raised several grounds of appeal challenging his conviction and sentence.

He faulted the Court Martial for failing to properly evaluate the evidence and thereby arriving at the erroneous decision.

The appeal was also on the grounds that the sentence slapped on him was harsh and excessive and asked Justice Kimaru to quash the conviction and sentence.

Maiyo denied that he had any intentions to kill Abdi, adding that since he was working in an operation area where he was expected to be alert at all the time, the rifle was already cocked at the time of the accidental discharge.

In the judgment, the High Court said the shots fired by Maiyo were more out of frustration and work related stress than an intention to kill.