By Wanja Waweru
The High Court has sentenced a mother who murdered her four children in Naivasha two years ago a life term.
Beatrice Mwende, who allegedly killed the children by strangling them while sleeping next to their dead corpses, was found guilty after entering a plea of guilty to the four murder charges.
Mwende was accused of strangling the children to death in Kabati Estate, Naivasha, on the evenings of June 26 and 27, 2020.
The children were Willy Macharia, Whitney Nyambura, Samantha Njeri, and Melody Warigia, all of whom were under the age of eight (2yrs).
Mwende informed the court last year that she had pleaded guilty to the four counts after extensive deliberation with her attorney.
Judge Grace Nzioka of the High Court observed in her sentencing that there was no proof the accused was mentally unstable at the time of the act.
The judge stated that the former teacher was of sound mind when she killed the four minors based on the medical proof presented in court.
Nzioka rejected the accuser’s claim that she was acting under the influence of some ghosts.
“The excuse by the accused that she was possessed by some evil spirits when she committed the act cannot be authenticated in court and she is sentenced to life imprisonment,” the Judge said.
She was given a life sentence for each of the four counts in a decision that was virtually delivered by the judge, who was eager to point out that she would only serve the first count.
The accused, who was grinning throughout the court hearing, had 14 days to appeal the ruling.
Earlier, the accuser began by strangling the smallest girl to death before doing the same to the other three, according to the prosecution’s Nelly Maingi.
She would stay in the same home until the next morning, when she would leave and tell her family that she had done a terrible crime and beg their pardon.
