Kenya: A former beauty queen sentenced to death (photos)

A 24-year-old beauty queen was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of her boyfriend.

According to the BBC, Ruth Kamande was 21 when she was accused of stabbing her 24-year-old boyfriend, Farid Mohammed, to death.

The tragedy took place after a quarrel broke out when the young woman discovered her companion was on HIV treatment, according to the reports of TheStandard.

Last May, she was convicted and detained at the Lang’ata Women’s Prison in Nairobi, where she won the Miss Lang’ata beauty contest in early 2017.

Amnesty International condemned the young woman’s sentence on Friday, calling on the Kenya High Court to reconsider its decision.

“We are concerned that Kenya continues to resort to this cruel, inhuman and other way of punishment. This sentence is a reversal of judicial practice in Kenya, where death sentences are commuted to prison terms,” Amnesty International Executive Director Irungu Houghton wrote in a statement.

Before the sentence, Kamande testified that her boyfriend threatened to kill her when she found out that he was HIV-positive. She said she acted in self-defense.

“Mohammed told me that he would rather kill me and kill himself than see his status exposed. I stabbed him several times with a kitchen knife.”

But judged Jessie Lessit said Kamande has no remorse and deserves nothing less than death.

“She stabbed him again and again and found pleasure in doing so. It did not happen at once, there were intervals,” she said.