This archive report was first published on 27 August 2019.
On August 16, 2019, Kajiado High Court Judge Reuben Nyakundi delivered a verdict in the case of Samuel Mungai, who was accused of murdering Zachaeus Sereya in 2017.
Mungai had pleaded that he thought Sereya was a thief, but the court rejected this claim, ruling that there was no evidence to support it.
Justice Nyakundi noted that Mungai was not armed and that there was no reasonable cause for him to use lethal force.
“Murder is a very serious offence, which involves loss of life. Life cannot be compensated. I hereby sentence the convict to 30 years imprisonment commencing from the date of arrest,” ruled Justice Nyakundi.
According to the court, Mungai had testified that he had separated two men who were fighting over a woman before going to a bar to have a drink. He claimed to have seen suspicious men hovering around the bar but was not bothered until stones were thrown at his house.
However, the prosecution presented evidence that Mungai had participated in inflicting the fatal injuries on Sereya.
