Pregnant Woman Gets 30 Years for Killing Drunk Husband

In Kenya, a 28-year-old pregnant woman will spend 30 years in jail for killing her drunk husband following an altercation.

High Court sentenced Emily Mukiri on Thursday after she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter. The offence was reduced from murder after plea bargaining with prosecution.

Emily admitted to killing her 34-year-old husband Francis Mwiti Mukio in August 2018 at their home in Muthinga, Tetu sub-county.

The court established that she stabbed the deceased in the abdomen and face with a knife following a domestic quarrel. The deceased went home drunk at around 1am, sparking a violent confrontation with his wife.

Emily picked a kitchen knife and stabbed the deceased multiple times in the abdomen and the face.

She later left the deceased in the house bleeding and went at the shopping centre.

Hours later, the deceased received a phone call from a police officer attached to Muthinga Police Station informing him that his wife had been arrested for disorderly conduct and that he should bail her out.

It was at that point that the deceased informed police that he had been assaulted by his wife at their home. He succumbed to the stab injuries at Nyeri County Referral Hospital.

But in mitigation, her lawyer urged the court to take into consideration the Victim Impact Report that touched on Ms Mukiri’s history of being a battered wife.

The incidences were reported to the accused’s mother and also to the police. The extracts of the OB Reports were annexed as evidence of the assaults by the deceased meted out on the accused and also the threats he made to kill her.

The report indicated that the deceased also had a history of drug abuse.

The lawyer also urged the court to consider the accused’s youthful age of 28 years and that she has two young children aged 10 years and seven years.

The court heard that during the period the accused has been remanded in custody the children were living with her cousin aged 21 years.

But in her ruling, Justice Mshila said the crime committed could only be deemed as unfortunate as a life was lost. The judge also said the accused did not deserve a non-custodial sentence.