Kenyan Woman Charged With Husband’s Murder in Zürich

A Kenyan woman in Zurich has been charged with the murder of her Swiss partner but despite the ruling, a sentencing is not expected. Instead, the lady has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital to receive treatment.

April 2015, the then 58 year old Kenyan woman and her Swiss partner got into a fight. The woman is believed to have grabbed the man’s walking stick and beat him up with it. The lady is said to have left the apartment and did not return until the next morning. During her absence, the frail old man that was under care succumbed to the injuries.

The accused admitted to the Court of having hit her partner with the walking stick. “But I did not want to kill him,” she said. However, she was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the incident and did not exactly know what had happened.

“I do not know if I killed him,” said the 61-year-old. “He was ill. Maybe he died of it too.

The accused claimed she had spoken to her partner before leaving the apartment and he didn’t look hurt. She told the court she suspected someone might have come to the apartment after she left and killed the man.

The judge giving his judgement told the court, “This is a shocking and brutal act. An act of violence. It is hard to believe that this was even possible with a walking stick made of light metal. It is therefore evident that there was use of force.”

The Kenyan that relocated to Switzerland in 1990 was found guilty of her partner’s murder but due to being diagnosed with schizophrenia, would not be sentenced to imprisonment. According to the judge, although she knew what she was doing, she lacked the ability to control her actions because of the psychotic shock caused by the disease.

The woman has since August 2017 been admitted to an institution for treatment and is responding well to the treatment according to the interim report presented to the court. Her stay in the institution is pegged on her wellbeing and no time period has been stipulated.

The defence lawyer had appealed the murder charge pleading instead for a negligent homicide or possibly manslaughter charge but that did not happen.

The claim that there might have been a third party that killed the man after the lady left her apartment was also dismissed. The prosecutor argued that nobody else had the keys to the apartment making it impossible for a third party involvement.

 

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