“I admit I killed my husband. He used to beat me up… I wanted to revenge myself and be rid of him, I waited until he had gone to sleep and when he was fast asleep I hanged him with a rope and thus killed him”.
With these words, Tabule wife of Kirupto Arap Soi pled guilty to murder at Nakuru court in Kenya and was sentenced to death. That sentence however was subsequently commuted to one of five months imprisonment. Her 1947 case file reveals multiple officials expressing sympathy for her actions, due to her pregnancy, her “emotional instability” and the years of abuse she had endured. Despite the premeditation of her offence, and despite the inherent violence, racism and patriarchal structures of imperial control, the colonial legal system here viewed Tabule as a victim as much as a perpetrator. This article explores why colonial legal authorities and governance regimes granted leniency to many accused female murders like Tabule, whilst a smaller number were denigrated as dangerous a...