BY SAM ALFAN.
Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji has asked High Court to uphold death sentence slapped on two high school students over the murder of Narok based taxi driver.
Through senior Principal counsel Duncan Ondimu, Haji wants the death sentence imposed on Bashir Ibrahim and Ibrahim Abdullahi alias Alushi by the trial court upheld.
“Considering the circumstances the deceased met his gruesome death, Bashir and Ibrahim do not deserve any mercy from this court and any other court including court of public opinion , the appellants do not deserve and mercy even a shred of it. The two appellants deserve nothing else other than death ,” Ondimu told the court.
He told Justice Francis Gikonyo that taking into account all the evidence on record adduced by the prosecution and in the circumstances of the case, the Prosecution did discharge its burden and prosecution evidence tendered in court was not in anyway discredited the convict defense during cross-examination.
Ondimu further submitted that the sentence was proper and urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lack of merits and maintain the the sentence by the trial court.
The motor vehicle was valued at Sh1.2 million and his mobile phone valued at Sh15,000 and killed him.
Ondimu dismissed claims by Bashir that he was a student at Fanaka Secondary School in Narok while Ibrahim was studying at Nkareta Secondary School.
He said rejected claim that there were contradictions and inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.
“We do submit that there were no contradictions nor inconsistencies and even if they were there, they are minor and did not go to the root of prosecution case hence this court should ignore them. The minor inconsistencies (if any) were satisfactorily explained and that the record of appeal clearly reflect that prosecution witnesses were truthful,” Ondimu told Justice Gikonyo.
Ondimu told Judge Gikonyo to ignore the prisoner move to contest his death sentence adding that sentencing is a crucial aspect of Criminal justice system.”It is trite-law that in every trial , once an accused person has been found guilty and convicted , the court shall proceed to pass sentence on him or her.
Judge Gikonyo heard that section 216 of the criminal Procedure Code(CPC) provides that the court may before passing sentence or making an order against an accused person , receive such evidence as it seems fit in order to inform itself as to the sentence or order properly to be passed or made.
In her decision, Narok chief magistrate Wilbroda Juma said she noted the mitigation but agreed with the prosecution that justice had to be served on a family that lost a loved one in such an inhuman manner. She gave the accused persons 14 days to appeal.
Solomon Njeri, who was 17 and a student at Fanaka Secondary School when the offence was committed, was in June 2016 sentenced to serve three years in a correctional institution after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
