Court hands woman three-year non-custodial sentence for killing husband over Sh1k

A court has handed an Elgeyo Marakwet woman a 3-year non-custodial sentence for killing her husband during a row over Sh1000 in August 2018.

The woman, Winnie Kiprop appeared before Justice Eric Ogola on Monday.

While delivering his judgement, Justice Ogola said that a non-custodial sentence was more appropriate since the accused had already spent four years in custody within which time she had delivered a child.

Ogola also said in Winnie’s case there was a clear provocation and the fight did not immediately result in death.

“The proof of the offence of manslaughter attracts a maximum sentence of life in prison. In this case, however, there was a clear provocation. The fight did not immediately result in death. Death followed later, unexpectedly,” Ogola said.

Kiprop confessed to killing her husband Jeremiah Kiprotich after an argument ensued over the money which was budgeted for food.

She said she was remorseful about her action and termed the events which led to the incident as unfortunate.

On that fateful day, Kiprotich came home drunk before engaging with his wife in an argument that escalated into a fight. Kiprop’s sister Irene Yatich, out of concern joined in the fight and hit Kiprotich with a stone.

Kiprotich in return surrendered the money and retired to bed. He later complained of headaches and took some pain relievers.

When morning came and Kiprop went to wake her husband up, she found the man unresponsive.

Kiprop went and notified their neighbours and relatives about the development at her house before it was established that Kiprotich was no more.

Following the death of Kiprotich, Kiprop and her sister Yatich were arrested and were charged with murder.

The charges were later reduced to manslaughter after Kiprop entered a plea bargain with the prosecution.

Post Mortem results revealed Kiprotich suffered a blunt force trauma to the head that was attributed to his death.