JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
In the early hours of March 30, 1981, a gang of some four persons descended on the homestead of Laban Kiura Kathangana, at Gichiche village in the Embu District, broke open the door of the house with a heavy stone and murdered him and injured his wife Sarah Njoka w/o Kiura. The deceased was formerly a councillor in the area and had been a director and manager of a local firm known as the Embu Produce Traders and Farmers Company. He also started to operate a concern called Embu Foodstuffs before his death in 1981. He was shot in the right side of the chest with a firearm which was in the possession of one of the raiders and his wife was cut several times with a panga. Kshs 50,000 representing part of the “takings” from the deceased’s business for the previous two days was stolen. The deceased’s death was caused by extensive damage to the heart and left lung, and the rupture of his spleen and liver.
The firearm in question was a 7.62 calibre G3 rifle which had been m…