Mechanic sentenced to death for stealing car says judge got it wrong

They had been facing trial before chief magistrate Francis Andayi found him guilty of the charges proffered against him and then sentenced him to death this month.

It is reported that Achieng and his accomplices, who were armed with dangerous weapons including an AK47, and a pistol, robbed Chief Inspector of Police David Machui of his BMW 735 vehicle in Utawala, Nairobi, in August 2014.

But after spending less than two weeks of the death sentence, Achieng has filed an appeal through his lawyer, Moses Angaya on April 25 to challenge the ruling of the court.

He is asking to be freed from prison and spared death, stating nine reasons why the sentence handed to him was wrong in law.

He accused the magistrate of ignoring material inconsistencies and gaps in the prosecution’s case in the identification of the culprit involved in the crime.

Achieng argued: "The learned trial magistrate erred in law in subjecting the prosecution case to a stand of proof below the usual beyond reasonable doubt standard as the eviction was against the weight of the evidence adduced."

He, through his lawyer, further argued that the magistrate was also wrong by relying heavily on the flawed identification of culprits in the dock.

According to the convict, despite finding the witness testimonies contradictory, magistrate Andayi went ahead and convicted, and sentenced him unfairly to death.

In an earlier report, a 32-year-old man was sentenced to 375 years of imprisonment with eligibility for parole only after serving 281 years of the nearly four-century jail term.

Jeremy Arrington, from New Jersey, was found guilty following a 10-day jury trial for the murders of Ariel Little Whitehurst, 7, Al-Jahon Whitehurst, 11, and Syasia McBurroughs, 23.

The prison term, which was announced by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, is the equivalent of three life sentences per New Jersey law.

The convict will serve the sentences concurrently, along with additional 50-year sentences for each of the three counts of attempted murder, according to Yahoo.com.

"Justice has been served. This defendant is pure evil and clearly deserves all 375 years in New Jersey State Prison for the terrible crimes he committed on Nov. 5, 2016. These families have waited over five years for this moment, and we are all so grateful for this sentence," the news outlet quoted Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor Justin Edwab as having said.

It is reported that on Nov. 5, 2016, Arrington broke into a Newark home with a loaded gun and held six people hostage, including the Whitehurst children and McBurroughs—all of whom he murdered, as well as the children’s then-29-year-old mother and her 13-year-old twin siblings.

He tied the victims and stabbed them many times with kitchen knives.

The Whitehurst children suffered severe stab wounds and were pronounced dead at the University Hospital, while McBurroughs was shot to death and pronounced dead on the scene, reports say.

The prosecutor’s office said: "Police were able to respond because a young girl with autism, who is unrelated to the family and was just visiting, escaped and called for help from her phone in a closet."

Arrington fled the scene before police officers arrived, but was arrested the next day at a Pomona Avenue residence.