JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
On the morning of the 2nd February, 2004 the body of seven-year old Samuel Mukuria Wanjiru (“the deceased”) lay on a polythene paper in a pool of blood in the sitting room of his grandparents’ house in Gatitu village, Nyeri. The anterior aspect of the neck had a deep cut wound which had severed the trachea, carotid arteries, thyroid and jugular vein. Only the back of the neck held it to the rest of the body. According to Dr. Ibrahim (PW2) who examined the body on 10th February, 2004, only a sharp object could have caused such injury. No one witnessed the killing of the deceased.
The deceased was an abnormal child of a single mother. He was unable to walk and did not learn to talk normally. His grandfather was Joseph Wambirwa Mwathi (“the appellant”) who together with his wife stayed with the deceased in their two-roomed house – the sitting room where the body of the deceased lay, and a bedroom.
In the same homestead also lived their two sons Patrick Thanju Wambirwa …