Two Chinese nationals who uprooted their compatriot’s teeth and gouged out his eyes over a bet have been convicted to one year in jail.
Gu Xiong and Jin Ping were convicted by Senior Principal Magistrate Charles Mwaniki after they made an about-turn and pleaded guilty to committing the said crime.
They had been charged before Kibera senior principal magistrate Boaz Ombewa with seriously injuring Dong Chen Pang whom they allegedly beat up on May 16 at Kingston Apartments along Ngong Road.
The offence was committed at night according to the charge sheet tabled in court.
The matter was reported to police after the fight and Pang was taken to hospital. He was later treated at Coptic Hospital after the eye developed complications.
According to police report, the court heard that Xiong and Pang disagreed over a bet and picked a fight before Ping joined to fight Pang.
While reading the court facts, the prosecution said that on the fateful day the complainant and the accused persons were at an apartment in Kilimani.
“The accused persons and the complainant were at the Kingstone apartment playing a game called Magician- the game that is of the gambling nature and the owner of the game left them there. The accused persons and the complainant then disagreed and an argument started,” the prosecution said.
The prosecution told the court that the argument later turned physical and the second accused person hit the complainant with the fist on his face injuring his left eye.
“The second accused person wrestled him to the ground and both of them started beating him and he shouted for help attracting neighbours and they stopped attacking him, he suffered a broken tooth at the upper mandible,” the prosecution said.
The complainant was then carried to an apartment since curfew restrictions were in place and were later taken to the hospital.
The magistrate while sentencing the two said that the offence committed was serious but since they had pleaded guilty they showed some degree of being remorseful.
“I have considered the mitigations from the accused persons and the nature and the circumstances of the offence. The accused person has saved the judicial time by pleading guilty and this suggests that they have undergone considerable introspection and that they are remorseful.
Nonetheless, they admitted a crime and injury resulted from it. I hereby sentence each of them to pay a fine of ksh100, 000 or serve one year in jail," the magistrate ruled.
He gave them 14 days to appeal the verdict if they wished.
