NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 28 — The Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction and seven-year prison sentences of two police officers found guilty of manslaughter over the fatal shooting of Janet Wangui Waiyaki at Nairobi’s City Park in 2018.A three-judge bench comprising Justices Patrick Kiage, Jamila Mohammed, and Weldon Korir dismissed appeals by the officers, who had sought to overturn their convictions, as well as a cross-appeal by the State seeking to enhance their sentences to 20 years.“The appellants were properly convicted and sentenced. We therefore uphold both the conviction and sentences,” the court ruled on Friday.The two officers, part of a multi-agency patrol team deployed during heightened anti-terror operations, opened fire on a parked, heavily tinted Toyota Fielder after its driver sped off as police attempted to inspect it. The vehicle’s driver, Bernard Gathuma Chege, survived with injuries, but his aunt, Wangui, who was seated in the back seat, died from multiple gunshot wounds.The officers, William Kipkorir Chirchir and Godfrey Kipngetich Kirui, told the trial court that they believed the vehicle posed a potential terrorist threat and claimed they fired in the air and at the tyres to immobilize it.However, High Court Judge Stella Mutuku, who tried the case, ruled that the use of force was excessive and unjustified, convicting the officers of manslaughter in 2021 and sentencing them to seven years in prison.Court of Appeal FindingsIn their appeal, the officers argued that the source of the fatal bullet was not identified, that they acted within the law under the National Police Service Act, and that their actions were reasonable given the prevailing security threat.But the appellate judges disagreed, finding that both officers fired their weapons recklessly, discharging a total of at least eleven bullets, and that their actions were disproportionate to the situation.“The force deployed was excessive and resulted in unnecessary loss of life,” the judges stated, agreeing with the trial court that there was no imminent threat to the officers that justified such use of deadly force.While rejecting the State’s request to enhance the sentence to 20 years, the judges noted that the seven-year sentence was consistent with similar cases involving police misuse of firearms.“There is no basis for concluding that the trial court violated sentencing principles… the seven years’ imprisonment was not too lenient to warrant our interference,” the bench held.