Court frees man who was to hang for stabbing wife 20 times

Justice Eric Ogola. [File, Standard]

In what could be a precedent-setting ruling, a man who had been sentenced to hang for stabbing his wife 20 times to death has been set free by the High Court in Mombasa.

Juma Mzuri Chovu walked to his freedom courtesy of the constitution promulgated in 2010 that declared mandatory death sentence unconstitutional, but on conditions set by the High Court.

The man who had served 15 years in jail after he was found guilty of butchering his wife in Mombasa’s Miritini area before elders made a decision on their matrimonial dispute is to report to Changamwe police station twice a year for a period of five years.

During the five years, he is expected not to engage in any activity that would land him on the wrong side of the law.

High Court Judge Eric Ogola accepted a submission by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that the death sentence slapped on Chovu by the High Court in 2008 and upheld by three appellate judges in 2009 be reduced to 20 years imprisonment.

“I hereby sentence the petitioner to a prison term of 20 years, five of which are hereby suspended. During the suspension, the petitioner (Chovu) will not commit any criminal offence. If the petitioner will be charged with a criminal offence, then the suspended sentence shall automatically be servable, and the petitioner shall be arrested and taken to Shimo La Tewa Prison to serve the suspended, in addition to any other sentence lawfully given,” Justice Ogola said on May 30.

In his judgment, Justice Ogola said Chovu is to report to the Officer Commanding Station in Changamwe every June 1 and December 29 of every year for five years.

Chovu had filed a petition for retrial following the decision of the Supreme Court in the Francis Murwatetu case that outlawed mandatory death sentence.

In the evidence tabled in court, the judge said a progress report filed by the Prison Department on February 16 this year speaks well of the man.

“The said report speaks well of the petitioner; that he has reformed; that he is a prayer leader in prison; that he also takes care of the elderly in prison; that he is responsible and remorseful of what he did and that he has changed and reformed,” the judge said.

The report further stated that Chovu has achieved the highest level of tailoring and dressmaking Grade One, adding he needs medical attention because he suffers from high hypertension and peptic ulcers.

Challenging the sentence, Chovu said he was quite remorseful and has to live with the guilt of being the cause of his wife’s death. He told the court he continues to suffer from this guilt and if it was possible to turn back the clock, he would certainly not commit the same crime.

In the court documents, Chovu had accused his wife Mariam Kitesho of having extra-marital affairs and the matter was forwarded to elders in Miritini’s Kikombani location to solve the issue.

The wife moved to her parents’ home as she awaited the elders to make their verdict on the claims by her husband.

A witness that she saw Chovu stab Miriam several times on May 27, 1999.

Police officers recovered the knife used in the killing.