A man on death row was set free yesterday by Chief Justice Zacchaeus Chesoni who told him to thank lawmakers for his life.

Francis Tobigo Naili was sentenced to death eight years ago for killing an eight-year-old girl.

He lost his appeal after the CJ, sitting with appellate Judges R.S.C. Omolo and A.A. Lakha, confirmed his conviction and sentence. But his age at the commission of the offence saved him.

The judges said: "The appellant's conviction is sound in law and facts . . . He should thank the lawmakers as he would have otherwise ascended to his creator."

Naili was below 18 years at the time he committed the offence. He slit Pascalina Peleisa's neck at Olepolos Reserve in Kajiado District and buried her, on June 21, 1990, in a hole dug by wild animals.

The judges said Naili had benefited by virtue of his age, estimated to be under 18, and hence received a statutory sentence under Section 25 of the Penal Code. They dismissed the application after Naili's grounds of appeal failed.

He had been convicted by High Court Judge Joseph Mango, who ordered him detained at the President's pleasure because of his age.

Naili was convicted on extra- judicial statement connecting him with the offence although he had repudiated it. He admitted it, however, after a trial-within-a-trial was conducted.

He admitted that he went into the house where the child was, took a knife which was on the table and cut her on the throat.

He then lifted her and pulled her on the ground and placed her in a hole dug by wild animals. "I went to their kitchen and took an empty sack and filled it with sand. I then went and poured the sand on her," he said in his confession to police, which was admitted in court during the trial.

Her mother, Jane Nkini, testified that she saw blood and faeces on the floor of her house and a blood-stained knife on the table. She followed a trail on which there was blood and found a sack cloth.

The blood trail disappeared on the road, she said. She reported to the police at Ngong that her daughter was missing.

Police Insp Njabi Mwangi went to the deceased's house and followed the same blood trail which led him to the ant-bear hole where he found Pascalina's body buried.

Naili later denied admitting to police he had killed the girl and appealed against the conviction and sentence.

He accused the trial judge of erring in law and fact in convicting him on the basis of uncorroborated confessional statement. He also claimed Judge Mango decided the case against the weight of the evidence.

A director of Equip Enterprises Ltd and Emco Enterprises Ltd and four Government Printer employees who were charged with stealing more than Sh179 million from the Office of the President have been acquitted by a Nairobi court for lack of evidence.

Kibera Principal Magistrate Jane Ondieki, blamed an investigating officer for carrying out shoddy investigations in the case.

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