Amnesty International Protests Handing of Death Sentence to Prison Beauty Queen Ruth Kamande

Amnesty International - Kenya Chapter has protested the handing of a death sentence to prison beauty queen Ruth Wanjiru Kamande by the high court.

On Thursday, Lady Justice Jessie Lesiit handed the 24-year-old the sentence after she was found guilty of killing her boyfriend Farid Mohammed at Nairobi's Buruburu estate in 2015 by stabbing him 22 times.

In a statement, Amnesty International- Kenya Executive Director Irungu Houghton termed the sentence on Ms Kamande as a retrogressive mode of punishment.

"Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner," He said in a statement on Friday.

“We are concerned that Kenya continues to use this cruel, inhumane and outdated mode of punishment. This sentence is a blow to Kenya’s progressive record in commuting death sentences to terms of imprisonment,” he added.

The organization called for the immediate commuting of the former Miss Lang'ata Women's Prison's death sentence to life imprisonment.

“There isn’t any credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime any better than other lawful punishments,” Houghton said.

Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that death sentence is not mandatory, but judges have discretion to impose it in cases of serious crimes.

The last executions in Kenya were done in 1987 when Kenya Air Force official Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras Oteyo Okumu were hanged for treason.

Two years ago, President Kenyatta signed commutation documents converting all death sentences into life jail terms.

“In my view, the discretion to pass a sentence other than death in capital offences should only be exercised in deserving cases. I do not find this a deserving case and I think passing any other sentence than the one prescribed would turn the accused into a hero,” the judge said during Kamande’s sentencing on Thursday.

“I want young people to know that it is not cool to kill your boyfriend or girlfriend even where you feel disappointed or frustrated – don’t do it. Instead, it is cool to walk away and thereafter to forgive,” the judge added.