A Nakuru court has sentenced an 18-year-old Form Four student to 20 years in jail for killing a three-year-old child at a church before later confessing to the crime and showing remorse.
The court said it was not convinced that 18-year-old Lizzy Njeri Mwangi was incapable of committing a similar offence.
The judge described the Form Four student as dangerous to society and ordered a deterrent sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment despite her young age.
The punishment, the judge said, was appropriate because the court was not convinced that she was free from the bizarre influence that led her to commit the gruesome murder of Margaret Wanjiru in broad daylight and outside a church compound.
“While I appreciate the stated mitigating circumstances, the accused perpetrated a vicious attack against the deceased which requires deterrence. Doing the best I can in balancing the interests of justice, I sentence the offender to twenty (20) years’ imprisonment,” ruled the judge on December 18.
The sentence followed the teenager’s guilty plea to killing the minor on June 22 at Shalom PCEA Church in the Mchanganyiko area of Bahati.
The crime was captured on CCTV cameras mounted at a neighbouring homestead, which provided police with crucial footage.
The footage, as analysed by police, showed how Njeri lured the child to follow her to a secluded place about 50 metres from the church compound, strangled her to death, and returned to the church, leaving the body at the scene.
She was recognised by church members as the daughter of a congregant. Police officers from Kiugoini Police Station were led to the girl’s home, where they found her going about her activities as if nothing had happened.
She was arrested, arraigned in court and charged with murder, a charge to which she pleaded guilty.
On July 30, the court convicted her on her own plea of guilt and ordered a pre-sentencing report.
The report presented to the court showed that Njeri was a Form Four student at Upperhill Secondary School in Nakuru. She expressed remorse, saying she did not know how she came to commit the offence.
The court heard that Njeri had experienced nightmares and felt a strong command to kill, which led her to murder the child.
The report recommended a non-custodial sentence, noting that her family had initiated reconciliation efforts with the victim’s family and that she was a first-time offender.
However, the court agreed with the prosecution that a non-custodial sentence was unsuitable, noting that the victim’s family remained bitter and the community was still aggrieved.
“The convict is also dangerous to society since it has not been shown that she is now free from the bizarre influence that led her to commit the murder,” the judge ruled.
