Two middle aged men who were found guilty for the murder of late Kilifi Deputy Governor Kenneth Kamto have been sentenced to serve 120 and 80 years jail term respectively for shooting dead the late DG during a robbery.
Julius M’muguu 57 years and Joseph Mukabana 50 years had been convicted for the offenses of murder, robbery and possession of firearm and ammunitions.
In his ruling, Mombasa Law Court Senior Principal Magistrate Yusuf Shikanda said the two had killed a husband and father of five infront of his wife without provocation after breaking into his home.
“I have no doubt that the deceased person’s family is still traumatized. Every soul shall test death but the manner in which the deceased lost his life was quite unfortunate,” said Shikanda.
The late DG was shot to dead in his palatial home in Nyali, Mombasa in December 2018 at in the wee hours of the morning as he came back from a night out just as he entered his home robbers accosted him demanding for money and they later shot him three times.
Fauzia Kamto, the widow to deceased DG told police that the robbers entered the house together with him and shot him dead in the sitting room.
The magistrate said that the convicts must come to the realisation that such acts cannot be tolerated and that goals of retribution, deterrence, community protection and denunciation take centre stage in their case.
“No amount of punishment will bring back the life of the deceased Kamto. Nevertheless, the court must send a message that crime does not pay. Having taken into consideration all the relevant factors, I agree with the probation officer that a non custodial sentence would not be viable,”. Shikanda said.
In the judgement,M’muguu and Mukabana were found guilty of three counts of robbery contrary to section 296(2) of the Penal code.
M’muguu was additionally found guilty of the offences of being in possession
of a firearm without a valid firearm certificate contrary to section 4(1) as read with section 4(3) (a) of the Firearms Act and being in possession of ammunition without a valid firearm.
The court sentenced M’muguu with 40 years imprisonment for murder, 60 years for two counts of robbery, 10 years for possession of a firearm without a license and 10 years for possession of ammunition without a license.
“The 1st convict shall serve more severe sentences for the charge of robbery because he was the one who shot and killed the deceased herein in cold blood,” said Shikanda.
Mukabana will serve 30 years for the murder of Kamto and 50 years for two counts of robbery.
“The prison sentences for both convicts shall run concurrently. For the 1stconvict (M’muguu), the sentences shall run from 30/1/2019 when he was placed in remand custody and for the 2nd convict (Mukabana), the sentences shall run from 14/1/2025,” said Shikanda
