Longer term sought for Cholmondeley

Kenya Attorney General Amos Wako has moved to the Court of Appeal seeking to have the eight-month sentence handed to Tom Cholmondeley enhanced.

In an application filed under certificate of urgency, the AG through the director of public prosecutions Keriako Tobiko, said the High Court’s decision to sentence Cholmondeley to eight months’ imprisonment for killing stonemason Robert Njoya was a miscarriage of justice.

The application by the AG comes four days after an appeal filed by Cholmondeley challenging his conviction.

Mr Justice Muga Apondi convicted Cholmondeley after he was found guilty of manslaughter on May 7, this year.

In his decision, the judge said the convict shot and killed Mr Njoya three years ago, but spared him the death sentence because a murder charge could not be sustained.

Justice Apondi relied on the evidence of rally driver Carl Tundo, who was with Cholmondeley on the fateful day. The judge, however, said that Cholmondeley did not have the intention to kill when he shot Mr Njoya at his Soysambu ranch on May 10, 2006.

“This case has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt both through direct and circumstantial evidence. Due to lack of any malice aforethought, I reduce the charge to manslaughter,” said the judge.

In reaching the sentence one week after the conviction, Mr Justice Apondi noted that Cholmondeley had been held in custody for slightly over three years since his arrest.

Arguments

But on Tuesday, the AG said that in imposing the sentence the judge failed to take into account all the relevant factors and instead considered the most irrelevant factors. However, the AG did not expound on what this relevant and irrelevant factors are.

Now the Court of Appeal is tasked with hearing the arguments from both sides and make a decision on whether to quash the conviction or enhance the sentence against Cholmondeley.