He was first convicted of handling stolen property and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
But when he appealed, Abdi Hussein was found guilty of robbery with violence and sentenced to death.
He took his fight to the Court of Appeal, which quashed the capital punishment but upheld the robbery with violence conviction and retained the 10-year sentence.
Hussein was a member of a gang that in January 2011 attacked a man in Mandera at night.
They were armed and robbed their victim of a mobile phone valued at Sh4,000 and Sh2,450 cash.
Court papers say Abdullahi Mohamed suffered a knife wound during the attack.
He requested all phone repair shops in Mandera to alert him should anyone ask for unblocking of a phone.
A few days later, a technician in one of the shops informed him a phone matching the description he gave had been brought for repair.
Mohamed rushed to the shop and found Hussein.
The suspect was arrested and arraigned at the magistrate’s court for robbery with violence.
In the alternative, he was charged with handling stolen goods.
He pleaded not guilty and four witnesses testified against him.
The magistrate acquitted him of robbery with violence, convicted him of the lesser charge of handling stolen goods and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment.
But Hussein appealed at the High Court in Garissa on the grounds there was no evidence he handled stolen property.
The court rejected his plea and instead found his conviction should have been for robbery with violence.
The judge enhanced the sentence to death.
At the Court of Appeal, Hussein maintained his innocence.
But the court found evidence for robbery with violence.
“From the summation above one can see that the trial court
was grappling with the evidence before it, and had failed to consider that the
appellant was in recent possession of the stolen phone and admitted as much.
Further, the appellant had failed to pinpoint the person who sold the phone to
him, which created doubt in his defence,” the judgement reads.
