Court sets free a woman accused of hurling a lit stove at her lover

A gavel. [Courtesy]

A woman accused of killing her lover by hurling a burning stove at him has been set free by a court.

Sarah Kituku, who has been in remand for the last five years, walked to freedom after the prosecution failed to prove that she was behind the fire that killed Mwanjala Mwasi after he sustained 82 per cent burns he sustained.

High Court judge Daniel Kimei said scanty evidence on record that was not sufficient to point towards Kituku created some doubt in the prosecution's case as regards identification of the accused as the perpetrator.

“It is trite law that if doubt is created in the prosecution case then the same ought to be resolved in favour of the accused. Both accused and the deceased sustained burns in the process of the altercation,” the judge said.

He added that eyewitness accounts and the circumstantial evidence from testimonies did not establish the offence of murder against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

According to court documents, Kituku had visited her lover on October 31, 2015, at his house in Mlolongo, Machakos County, when an altercation ensued between them, with Mwasi accusing her of refusing to wash his clothes.