Ruth Kamande, a murder convict serving a life sentence for
the 2015 stabbing of her boyfriend to death, has graduated with a law degree.
The graduation ceremony was held at Kamiti Maximum Prison on Tuesday.
“We are here to celebrate this new chapter with a new story
which all of you have participated in rewriting. But we are not only here to
celebrate graduands from the University of London but graduands who have
successfully studied law behind bars. Graduands who are well transformed,
rehabilitated and reformed,” Kamande said in her speech.
Organised by Justice Defenders, an NGO that trains paralegals and lawyers with defenceless communities to provide legal services for themselves and others, the ceremony also saw other inmates and wardens graduate.
“These are people who have trained as paralegals. I am
indeed happy today to celebrate the men and women who have defied all odds to come out
and prove to the entire world that something good can come out of prisons,”
said Hamis Mzari, a former convict now practising law.
Kamande, who was crowned Miss Lang’ata Women Prison in 2016
was convicted of killing her boyfriend, Farid Mohammed after stabbing him 25
times.
Appearing before the court, she pleaded guilty to killing
her lover and told the court that their argument ensued after she
found a small yellow card from the Aids Control programme showing he was a patient,
in his room.
“Farid told me that he would rather kill me and himself
than have his status exposed because I realized he was HIV positive. I stabbed
him severally using a kitchen knife, which fell on my chest from his hands
after I overpowered him after putting my two thumbs in his eyes to save my
life,” Kamande told the court back in 2015.a
Kamande who was sentenced to death in 2018 after being found guilty of killing her boyfriend had her sentence commuted to life imprisonment and has recently sought to appeal her case at the Supreme Court citing issues surrounding domestic violence and self-defence
