Ruth Wanjiku Kamande, the woman who captured national attention in 2015 for the brutal stabbing of her boyfriend, has reached the end of the legal road in her fight to overturn her murder conviction. In a final ruling, the Supreme Court dismissed her appeal, leaving her death sentence intact.
Kamande was 21 years old at the time of the killing, which occurred during a violent confrontation with her boyfriend, Farid Mohamed Halim, at his home in Buruburu, Nairobi. The altercation escalated into a horrifying attack, during which Kamande stabbed Halim 25 times. According to the courts, the wounds were inflicted all over his body, indicating a deliberate and malicious act rather than one committed in panic or self-defence.
The High Court, which initially tried the case in 2018, found her guilty of murder and sentenced her to death. The judgment was based on the extent and nature of the injuries Halim sustained, with the court concluding that the sheer number of stab wounds was proof of intent to kill. Her appeal to the Court of Appeal was also unsuccessful, with the judges upholding the High Court’s findings.
Undeterred, Kamande took her case to the Supreme Court, arguing that her actions were driven by a history of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of the deceased. Her legal team claimed that she was suffering from what is clinically referred to as battered woman syndrome a psychological condition said to affect individuals who have experienced prolonged domestic abuse. They argued that her state of mind and actions were shaped by fear and trauma, not malice.
However, the Supreme Court rejected this line of defence. The judges emphasized that, although battered woman syndrome is recognized in some legal jurisdictions as a context to understand a defendant’s actions, it does not stand on its own as a legal defence under Kenyan law. Instead, it may be used to support existing defences such as self-defence, provocation, or temporary insanity. In Kamande’s case, the court ruled that none of these were proven.
Critically, the court noted that Kamande had not raised the issue of battered woman syndrome during her initial trial or at sentencing. The argument only emerged during the appeal process, and no medical or psychological evaluations were presented to substantiate the claim. The judges stated that introducing such a critical defence so late in the proceedings undermined its credibility.
In its final determination, the court concluded that Kamande’s actions were premeditated and driven by malice, not fear. The claim of self-defence was dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence. As a result, the Supreme Court upheld the previous rulings and confirmed that the death sentence would stand.
While the court ordered that her KSh6,000 security deposit be refunded and ruled that no further legal costs be imposed on her, the decision effectively ends Kamande’s legal avenues for appeal.
With this ruling, Kamande remains on death row, her fate sealed by the country’s highest court.
