On November 20, 2018, a court sentenced Pierra Muthoni Francis to five years in prison after she admitted killing her brother, Severino Mate Francis, in a dispute tied to her relationship with an Akorino man.
Francis had pleaded guilty to the murder, which occurred on February 1, 2018, at Kaman village. She told the court that she acted in self defence after her brother confronted her over the affair.
According to her account, the confrontation turned violent when her brother allegedly came at her with a knife. She said she stabbed him during the struggle, after which he fell and later died from the injuries.
In mitigation, Francis asked the court for leniency, saying she was the breadwinner in her family and a single mother of five children. She also said her late father had given her a share of land to settle on, a move that had not gone down well with the deceased and his son.
Judge R K Limo rejected the idea that the killing could be justified by the family disagreement. The court said Francis had no right to take her brother’s life simply because he objected to her relationship.
The judge said the background showed that tensions had been building after the family learned of the relationship. Quarrels followed when the deceased and his son went to Francis’s house to question her about it, and a fight broke out before the stabbing.
While the court described the stabbing as cruel, it also found that it was not premeditated. Judge Limo said Francis should be given a chance to reform and learn to control her anger.
She was sentenced to serve five years in prison and then two years on probation under the supervision of a social worker near her home. The judge also granted her 14 days right of appeal.
The judgment was delivered on November 7, 2018.
