The Kericho High Court has sentenced a man to a five-year jail sentence after he was found guilty of murdering his wife.
This is after the accused saved the court time by confessing that he murdered his wife following an argument.
Paul Kipkemboi committed the crime in November last year and immediately surrendered to the police.
He told the court that on the fateful day, his wife Caroline Koech had gone on a drinking spree neglecting their children.
The accused arrived home at around 9.30 pm from a circumcision ceremony and found his wife drunk and that his children had slept hungry.
“The accused was very annoyed with what the deceased had done but tried to control himself because it was a taboo among the Kalenjin to quarrel or fight during the circumcision period,” the court was told.
He however confronted his wife and they began quarreling. Caroline threatened to leave for her parents’ home. The verbal altercation turned physical and led to the tragedy.
Postmortem results indicated that the deceased suffered severe head injuries.
A remorseful Kipkemboi asked the court to grant him a non-custodial sentence since he had to take care of his two young children.
The court however declined his request saying that non-custodial sentences cannot be granted to anyone involved in domestic violence.
The court instead gave him a light sentence since he was the first offender and he had saved the court time by confessing to the crime.
“The court has taken into consideration mitigation circumstances and especially, the fact that the accused pleaded guilty to manslaughter and saved the court time for trial and also the fact that the accused person is a first offender,” Judge Asenath Ongeri said in his ruling.
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