A pageant queen was sentenced to death for killing her boyfriend by stabbing him 25 times in anger.
A Kenyan court has sentenced a 24-year-old jail beauty queen to death for murdering her boyfriend by stabbing him 25 times.
However, the sentence has drawn criticism from rights groups who called the punishment ‘inhumane’.
Ruth Kamande, who won a prison beauty pageant while awaiting trial, slashed her partner Farid Mohammed, 24, to death in 2015 and was convicted in May.
‘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,’ said High Court judge Jessie Lesiit passing sentence on Thursday.
‘Instead, it is cool to walk away and thereafter to forgive.’
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The judge accused Kamande of ‘manipulative’ behavior that included accessing the victim’s mobile phone as well as showing no remorse for the vicious attack which left ‘blood all over’ the crime scene.
According to Lesiit, passing any other sentence than the one prescribed (death) would turn the accused into a hero.
Rights group Amnesty International called the sentence ‘cruel, inhumane and outdated’.
‘This sentence is a blow to Kenya’s progressive record in commuting death sentences to terms of imprisonment,’ said Amnesty director Irungu Houghton.
The victim’s family insisted the sentence matched the crime.
Kamande’s lawyer Joyner Okonjo said she would appeal the sentence.
Kenya has an effective ban on carrying out death sentences and no death row prisoner has been executed since 1987.
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