TARSISIO WEINO LETWAMBA V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT

The appellant, Tarsisio Weino Letwamba was convicted of the murder of one Lembukon Lesurmat on October 27, 1989 at Ndonyo Wasin village in Samburu district of the Rift Valley province and sentenced to death. At his trial he did not deny that he had killed the deceased but he claimed that he had done so in the circumstances that amounted to extreme provocation, sufficient to reduce his offence to manslaughter; and in the alternative, he averred, the plea of self-defence was available to him as he was entitled in the circumstances to use reasonable force to defend himself.

The following were the facts of the case as led in evidence by the prosecution. The appellant is a Samburu and was aged about 27 years old at the time of his arraignment on the charge of murder. He was recruited into the Administration Police Force in 1987 and was stationed at Ndonyo Wasin out post in Samburu district. The total force at that post during the material time was four and each of the officers was a…