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Activists criticise 30-year sentence for ex-Riruta MCA in wife's murder

Samuel Njoronge, Joyce Mûngai and Wilson Mûnyua in court on Friday, April 5, 2024. (Photo: Joseph Ndunda)

By Joseph Ndunda | Friday, April 12, 2024

The activists are planning to hold demonstrations in Nairobi next week to register their dissatisfaction with the sentence.

Anti-femicide activists have expressed dissatisfaction with the 30 years jail term handed to former Nairobi MCA Samuel Ndung'u Njoroge, who colluded with three accomplices, including his girlfriend, to abduct, torture, and kill his wife Lucy Njambi in Kiambu County six years ago.

Rachel Mwikali of the End Femicide Kenya Movement says the sentence imposed on Njoroge, his lover Joyce Njambi Mungai, and their accomplice Wilson Mwangi Munyua is not punitive enough.

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Mwikali accused the judiciary of favouring elites in the administration of justice, hinting at the unfairness in sentencing the three for the murder of the 24-year-old woman.

The activist says the three convicts deserved a death sentence to ensure they are permanently locked away from members of the public.

"Looking at the circumstances of that (Lucy Njambi's) murder, it is not any different from others where convicts were handed death sentences," Mwikali said.

"They have not been given the appropriate sentence and there is a clear issue of consideration of an individual's class in this case. There is a possibility that these people will come out after 15 years and they will not be harmless to society."

Githunguri MP Gathoni Wa Muchomba holds a similar opinion. The lawmaker said there is no difference in circumstances surrounding Lucy Njambi's murder and that of businesswoman Monica Kimani, where the convict was served with a death sentence.

She says the judiciary should be considering the social impact caused by the murderers.

"Both (Lucy Njambi and Kimani) were young, beautiful women killed at their prime age in equal and brutal circumstances. Njambi left behind a four-year-old child," Wa Muchomba told this writer on phone.

"We must consolidate our resolve to end femicide in Kenya by partnering with stakeholders in the delivery of justice. That means the judiciary must do its part. More was needed from the judiciary. They took six years but did not deliver what was expected."

Wa Muchomba said that the penalty is not appropriate for the offence and the impact it caused on the family and society at large, and she has sought advice from her legal team on the matter.

Njoroge and the two others were served with the penalty by appellate judge Joel Ngugi, who found them guilty of the offence of murder contrary to Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the Penal Code last week, after six years of trial.

The ex-civic leader had accused the deceased of infidelity and had sworn to stop it.

Mwikali said gender activists are planning to hold demonstrations in Nairobi next week to register their dissatisfaction with the sentence.