Mentally challenged man slapped with 3-year jail term for killing daughter ‘by mistake’

By , K24 Digital
On Sat, 17 Jul, 2021 14:36 | < 1 min read
PHOTO/COURTESY

A man was on Friday sentenced to three years in jail for killing his two-year-old daughter by mistake due to his mental illness.

The man who has been identified in court documents as BKM killed his daughter SMK by stabbing her.

The documents further revealed that the man who had stopped taking his medication arrived home and found his daughter in bed with the mother then took the action.

The incident happened on October 15, 2018, at Utawala Estate in Nairobi and the court heard that she was stabbed in the chest and abdomen.

BKM was suffering from hallucinations as a result of his failure to take his medication as required.

Justice Jessie Lesiit in her ruling said that she found the accused was the reason for his mental illness as he was not taking his medication.

“What he did to his daughter is a direct consequence of his action to stop the medication,” the Judge said.

The Judge further declined to give BKM a non-custodial sentence due to his mental illness arguing that he needs to be in jail so that he can learn what he did is wrong.

BKM had entered into an agreement with the State as he asked that he is not sent to prison due to his mental state in vain.

Mental illness has been a worrying incident in the country which even attracted the attention of President Uhuru Kenyatta who formed a committee to look into the matter.