JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
The appellant, Kanini Muli, was convicted of murder by the High Court (Wendoh J) on 30th November, 2007 and sentenced to suffer death. The conviction was based on a retracted confession, there being no other evidence linking the appellant to the offence. The central issue in this appeal is therefore whether the appellant was properly convicted on the basis of that retracted confession. The facts of this appeal are quite peculiar and rather tragic for the appellant, her family and that of the deceased, Moki Shem Ndumbu.
From the outset, the theory put forward by the prosecution was that the appellant had killed the deceased because he had jilted her. The deceased, Moki Shem Ndumbu and the appellant were neighbours in Kisekini Village, Mulango location, Kitui. In the early 1990s, when the appellant completed her secondary school education, she had a love affair with the deceased. She subsequently gave birth to a baby girl, (JK) who she claimed was fathered by the dec…