The convict, Happy Mwenda Mumba, a Kenyan woman, appeared before a High Court in the country’s Mombasa city presided over by Justice Anne Ong'injo where she was found guilty of murder.
“The court finds that the accused should not only be punished to deter other would-be offenders but to make her know that life is sacred and that the late Alvin Mumba, who was only one year old, had a constitutional right to life.
“The accused must learn that she has no right to take away life as she cannot create even a strand of hair. The commensurate punishment, in my view, is ten years to commence from August 2, 2022.
"The deceased was one year old and depended on the accused person to protect him from harm’s way as she was his single parent. Under cover of darkness, the accused person inflicted injuries on the child to cause grievous harm and, to ensure that he did not survive, threw him into a 10-feet borehole,” TUKO.co.ke quotes Justice Ong'injo as saying before sentencing Mumba.
Mwenda was charged with murder by the prosecution, an offence she committed on July 7, 2022, in Mombasa's Bombo neighbourhood.
Eight witnesses testified against her, establishing her guilt before the court.
Susan, her 17-year-old daughter, spoke in court as the first witness, claiming to be the deceased's older sister. According to her statement, they shared a home in Bombo with her mother and younger brother, Alvin.
“My mother was lulling the child to sleep and went out at 8 p.m. She returned at 10 p.m. without the child and told me that she had taken him to his father,” Susan told the court.
According to Susan's testimony, her mother used to sell palm wine but was getting ready to move to the United Arab Emirates. She also mentioned that on the fateful night, her 19-year-old friend Faith Wanja who visited her had departed at 9 p.m., before her mother came back. Her mother got ready the next day and said she would see her other two daughters in Bombolulu, where she was married from 2012 to 2017. The two were lodging with Rama, their father. Susan learned of her brother's death after her mother had left. She claimed that after learning that Alvin's body had been discovered in a pit at Borawa, she hurried to inform the local elder, who advised her to go to the Kiembeni Police Station.
Mumba was later arrested and investigations commenced into the incident and she had since been standing trial.
She served a year in detention, which is why her sentence was backdated to 2022. She now has 14 days to indicate her desire to appeal the decision, which will keep her behind bars for a further nine years.