Man to Serve Life Sentence over Robbery with Violence

A court has sentenced a man to death after he was found guilty of murder and robbery with violence in Marakwet West Sub-county of Elgeyo Marakwet County.

The Iten court senior principal magistrate Hezron Nyaberi found the accused guilty of robbing and brutally killing Mr Micah Chelugo while armed with an AK47 rifle and a panga at Kapsowar on July 18, 2015.

The court was told that Festus Murkomen together with others who never appeared in court stole a cell phone worth Ksh. 5,000 during the robbery.

Murkomen was also charged with robbing Mercy Kiptoo of Ksh. 10, 000 worth mobile phone and Ksh. 300 in cash after threatening to attack her.

In his ruling, the magistrate said that the evidence produced in the court justifies that the accused committed the crimes.

The court heard that the accused was injured during the night robbery and sought medical attention at the Kapenguria county hospital on July 19 where two of his fingers were amputated before escaping to Uasin Gishu County.

The court also found that it was not a coincidence that the blood Murkomen voluntarily donated for DNA test matched with blood collected at the scene where Murkomen had sustained injuries during the night robbery incident.

Prosecutor Duncan Chelasha told the court that when the accused was receiving treatment at Kapenguria county hospital, a robbery had been committed at Kapsowar where the deceased was shot and brutally injured.

Another establishment by the court was that the spent cartridge collected at the scene and results of a ballistic report confirmed that they were fired from an AK 47 rifle recovered from the accused.

In his ruling, the magistrate said that the accused was a first offender, but the offense committed was a felony with one kind of sentence, which is death.

Murkomen now has 14 days to appeal the sentence.