The Director of Public Prosecution has filed a notice of appeal to challenge a Mombasa court acquittal of the wife of a dead Nairobi businessman.
Prosecutor Alloys Kemo representing DPP Noordin Haji filed the notice at the Court of Appeal in Mombasa, saying he was not satisfied with the judgment of Mombasa High Court judge Dora Chepkwony.
On December 4, Chekwony acquitted Amina Shiraz of murder charges. She was accused of killing her husband Jimmy Baburam while on a family vacation at Medina Palms in Watamu.
Chepkwony said the DPP failed to prove that Shiraz had a prima facie case to answer and set her free.
In the notice dated December 11, the DPP requested for certified copies of the proceedings to enable them file the appeal.
''The mater came up before lady Justice Dorah Chepkwony for ruling on December 4, 2019, whereupon the accused was acquitted under Section 306 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Kindly supply us with the certified copies of the proceedings and ruling to enable us to file an appeal against the said ruling," the DPP's letter says.
Shiraz had been charged with killing her husband at Medina Palms Resort in Watamu, Kilifi county, on July 26, 2015.
Justice Chepkwony ruled that the prosecution has failed to prove the case against her.
"None of the evidence given by the 18 prosecution witnesses linked the suspect to the death of her husband Jimmy Baburum," she said.
The Judge said the prosecution needed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused had a case to answer.
Shiraz was charged alongside an American Jacob Schmalze over the murder of Baburam.
Justice Chepkwony issued a warrant of arrest against Schmalze after he fled to the US.
The American had allegedly got a tip-off that the DPP had pressed murder charges against him.
In her ruling, Chepkwony said two key prosecution witnesses each recorded three statements on different dates which gave different versions of the circumstances of the death of Baburam.
''The prosecution had proved a case of a complicit love triangle between the victim, Shiraz and the American fugitive but failed to establish a prima facie case on the murder offence," she ruled.
Chepkwony said it was difficult to establish which which of the statements was true.
Moreover, she said, the oral evidence by the two witnesses also differed with what was in their written statements.
She said the two prosecution witnesses were the only ones with evidence to connect the accused with the murder but from their evidence there arose doubts on what was the true version.
"Apart from the two witnesses, none of the remaining witnesses gave evidence to point out that the accused caused the death, as some never even visited the scene," she said.
The judge said there was also no evidence in the mobile phone data submitted in court that showed the accused had intention to commit murder.
Shiraz is also facing a conspiracy case in Malindi alongside sergeant Abdi Shee. The two allegedly conspired to conceal murder evidence of the Nairobi based businessman.