COURT LENIENT TO HUSBAND WHO STABBED WIFE AFTER BURST

Family members broke into tears of joy in a Thika court after a 51-year-old man charged with stabbing his wife of 24 years with a knife was released from custody and asked to be reporting to the local probation office for the next two years for supervision.
The accused Joseph Mwangi was charged that on August 20 this year at Kimorori village in Murang’a county, he stabbed his wife Susan Wangechi on her left shoulder after a domestic quarrel causing her grivous injuries.
Appearing before the Thika Principal Magistrate Walter Onchuru, the accused had pleaded guilty to the charge but admitted that he engaged into a fight with his wife when he got home to find his wife of 24 years with another man in bed.
The accused in his mitigation told the court that he had travelled home from his duty station in Nairobi after news reached him that his secondary school daughter had been sent home from school for lack of school fees yet he had sent money for her school fees but on reaching home, he found his wife with a man.
The accused who was unrepresented told the court that the relationship between him and his wife was strained and they had temporarily separated after he found her with yet another man 2007. They had reconciled last year but it appears it was an exercise in futility.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Francis Kimani told the court that the accused, on the material day had arrived home at around 1.00 am and found his wife with a man on their matrimonial bed. In a fit of anger, he stabbed his wife several times with a kitchen knife injuring her seriously.
Neighbours answering to the distress call saved the complainant and rushed her to Kenol Hospital where she was admitted in a serious but stable condition.
The magistrate, while making the ruling, said that the man was greatly provoked by the action of his wife and probation report indicated that he was a peaceful man who loved his family. He was driven by extreme anger to commit the crime that saw him appear before court.
“I therefore release the accused but he should report to the nearest probation office for the next two years for supervision,” he ruled.