Don't give me death, Ex-prison beauty queen pleads

Ruth Kamande follow a past court proceeding. [File, Standard]

A former prison beauty queen found guilty of killing her boyfriend pleaded with the court to spare her life, saying she had reformed and regretted the incident.

Ruth Kamande, the 2016 Miss Lang’ata Prison, has been convicted of killing her boyfriend, Farid Mohammed, on September 20, 2015.

Through lawyer Joynor Okonjo, Ms Kamande told the judge she was the only source of hope for her ageing mother and that her experience in prison for the past two years had reformed her and made her a better person.

Kamande was submitting her mitigation before Justice Jessie Lesiit.

While convicting her, the judge had ruled that Kamande had ill motives when she stabbed Mohammed 22 times using a kitchen knife and dismissed her arguments that she acted in self-defence.

According to the judge, it was clear from the prosecution witnesses' accounts that Kamande subjected Mohammed to a lot of pain given that the stabs wounds were not inflicted at once, but at intervals.

Kamande had in her defence stated that her boyfriend had raped her, knowing well that he was HIV-positive, and that he had attempted to kill her.

“She comes from a home of a single mother who is now devastated after her brother passed on. She is, therefore, the only surviving child and hope of her mother. That is why she is pleading that you give her a lenient sentence other than the death penalty,” said Ms Okonjo.

But Mohammed's family, through State Counsel Everline Onunga, insisted that Kamande should suffer capital punishment. “The family feels that her conduct during trial did not show someone who is remorseful. They are bitter about the way their brother was killed,” said Ms Onunga.

Justice Lesiit will pass the sentence on July 19.