Man accused of stabbing magistrate appeals 3-year sentence

Mr Michael Kuhora Njeri appears at a Nakuru court on May 22, 2017 during the hearing of a case he is charged with stabbing a magistrate. Photo/Suleiman Mbatiah/Standard

The man who assaulted a magistrate inside a courtroom wants the court to set aside the sentence that provoked the attack.

Michael Kuhora had been sentenced to three years in prison on November 22, 2016, for assaulting Edith Adhiambo. But as Resident Magistrate Eunice Kelly read out the sentence, Mr Kuhora stabbed her.

Kuhora, who is still facing charges regarding the attack, wants the High Court to set him free from the three-year sentence imposed before the attack.

In an appeal before High Court judge Maureen Odero, Kuhora is seeking to have the conviction and the sentence imposed on him set aside.

He claimed the prosecution failed to prove the offence of assault beyond reasonable doubt, adding that his defence was not given due consideration and that the prosecution witnesses' evidence was contradictory.

Through lawyer Gacheru Ng'ang'a, he argued that a non-custodial sentence should have been considered and accused the court of bias against him.

He said the court should have ordered for a probation officer's report before sentencing him.

The prosecution however opposed the appeal and urged the court to dismiss it.