Three men who stripped a woman naked inside a bus they operated have been sentenced to death by a Nairobi court.
Nairobi Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi found all three men guilty of robbery with violence and assault charges. Nicholas Mwangi who was the bus driver, his conductor Meshack Mwangi and a gas station attendant Edward Ndung’u were all sentenced to death.
The magistrate had added them a 25 years jail term for stripping and sexually assaulting the woman, but the jail term was later withdrawn since they’ll be already serving the death sentence.
The magistrate called the act by the trio a “senseless and uncouth act that they seemed to enjoy because they were cheering as they stripped the woman.”
The three were caught on a 59 seconds video they had filmed assaulting the helpless woman inside a Githurai-Bound bus, but the victim said the incident lasted longer than that. The men shared the video of the naked woman on social media after the incident.
The three were among seven who threatened to rape her inside the bus. She lied she was HIV positive and that saved her from the gang rape.
According to court documents, on the night of September 19 at Millenium petrol station in Githurai 44, the three, jointly with others, robbed a woman of Sh10,200, a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone worth Sh27,000, one bottle of perfume, a clutch bag and a make-up kit all amounting to Sh41,700.
Members of the public reacted to the ruling saying it serves the trio right.
Cases of women being sexually assaulted in public are high in some Nairobi neighborhoods, especially at bus terminuses, and today’s ruling sends a stern warning to others of similar temperament.