The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a landmark case filed by the 2016 Lang'ata Prison women's beauty contest winner Ruth Kamande, who has been on death row for close to a decade after she was found guilty and convicted of murder.
The highest court in the land, in its unanimous judgment on Friday, said her argument that she was a victim of abuse was not raised before then High Court Judge Jessie Lesiit; instead, it came up during her appeal of the conviction and the sentence.
Nevertheless, the judgment by Chief Justice Martha Koome, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu and Justices Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung'u, Isaac Lenaola, and William Ouko was not all doom for victims of battered women syndrome as they ruled that if the issue were escalated from the High Court, to the Court of Appeal then, the Supreme court, in a proper case then it would give its voice. "We find that in the instant matter, the elucidation, clarification and development of the law on the issue of the battered woman syndrome, would particularly benefit from the consideration of the facts in an appropriate matter; the testimony of victims and witnesses including the specialist analysis by expert witnesses on relevant related subjects; and the interpretation and application of laws and legal principles by the courts ante, before the matter could be considered ripe for final determination at this court," the bench headed by Justice Koome ruled.
According to the seven judges, Ms.
