Nairobi house help jailed for life for killing her employer

NAIROBI: The Court of Appeal has upheld a life imprisonment sentence for a house help convicted of killing her employer.

Jackline Baraza was given away by scars that the court ruled were inflicted during a struggle with Munax Ashok in 2008.

Ms Ashok's body was discovered by her daughter on the evening of February 1, 2008 at their home in Nairobi. She had deep wounds to the neck and her long, black hair was wrapped around it.

Ms Baraza had been on the run for almost a year but was found in Busia by a private investigator. During trial, the 11-month old scars on her face proved crucial for the prosecution. The judges ruled that her scars placed her at the scene of crime.

"A medical examination of her showed she had scars that were consistent with a struggle she had had with the deceased, and which roughly coincided with the time of the incident," justices Alnashir Visram, Fatuma Sichale and Sankale ole Kantai ruled.

The judges agreed with their High Court counterpart Jessie Lesiit that Baraza was the last person seen with Ashok.

Baraza claimed she was convicted of stabbing her employer over an undisclosed dispute based on circumstantial evidence but the judges ruled the prosecution did establish that she was the last person seen with Ashok. 

She left, presumably at 4pm, which was her normal departure time, without anyone seeing her and went into hiding for several months, the judges said.

"Upon being discovered several months later, she was visibly shocked, tried to escape, but was apprehended," the judges said.

According to the court records, Ashok's daughter was the first to return home one hour after the house help had left. She rang the main doorbell but no one answered.

She went to the back door and found it unlocked. As she opened it she saw blood all over. The High Court was told that she ran to the neighbour's to enquire where her mother was. Ashok's body was later discovered in the bathroom.

The police were called in but there were no leads. The family hired a private investigator, Joseph Mutinda, in November 2008 and it did not take long for Baraza to be apprehended. Mr Mutinda found the suspect in January 2009 at her parent's home.