This archive report was first published on 27 June 2021.
On June 27, 2021, Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi appeared on Churchill Show to discuss the nuances of murder, provocation, and manslaughter in Kenyan law.
According to Abdullahi, a case is considered murder only if it has been premeditated. He used a hypothetical scenario to illustrate this point: if a person learns that their spouse has been unfaithful and then kills the adulterer, that would be considered murder.
However, Abdullahi noted that if a person were to catch their spouse in the act of infidelity and kill the other person on the spot, that would not be considered murder, but rather a case of provocation.
Abdullahi also drew a distinction between murder and manslaughter, using the example of a bar fight that turns deadly. In such a case, he said, the perpetrator would likely be charged with manslaughter, not murder.
Abdullahi's comments come from a long career in law, including a stint as chair of the Law Society of Kenya from 2003 to 2005 and a nomination to the Judicial Service Commission until 2013.
