JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
The two appellants herein, James Kimuya Mwangi (1st appellant) and Josephat Mugo Kimani (2nd appellant) were jointly charged with three counts of attempted robbery with violence contrary to section 297(2) of the Penal Code. Following their trial before the Senior Resident Magistrate (E.O. Awino, Esq.), the appellants were convicted on all the three counts. The two were subsequently sentenced to death as mandatorily provided by the law.
The essential background facts were as follows:-
On 12th December, 2001 at about 9:00 p.m., Samuel Gathecha Karanja (PW1 the first complainant) was on his way to work as a night guard at Teikunu when he met two people who stopped him. One of those people had what looked like an AK47 rifle while the other person had a Somali Sword. The two armed people ordered Karanja to sit down. Then Alphonce Inzian (PW2 the 2nd complainant) came riding a bicycle on which he had given a lift to his son, Samuel Chege (PW3 – the third complainant).
Thes…