JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
At about 8.30 pm on 3rd September, 2005, ten year old Simon Muraya Muturi(“the deceased”) was brutally bludgeoned to death with an axe and severely cut up with a panga and knife severing his spinal code and trachea. The savage attack took place barely 50 metres from the gate of his parents’ house in Murichu Village in Nyandarua District. Three weeks (21 days) later, Liadah Kariuki Ndegwa alias Newton Kariuki(“the appellant”) was arrested several kilometers away in Mwiyogo Location in Mweiga Division which is his home area, and was charged with the murder of the deceased contrary to section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code. It was alleged that the appellant was the last person to be seen with the deceased shortly before the deceased’s life was snuffed out. As there was no eyewitness to the murder, reliance was made on circumstantial evidence from seven prosecution witnesses. The appellant also made an unsworn statement. Upon consideration of the entir…