Nairobi chief Magistrate Kiarie wa Kiarie ruled that the prosecution had proved its case against William Tett beyond reasonable doubt.
“I am satisfied by the proof provided by the prosecution in the case, and I therefore sentence you to suffer death,” Kiarie said.
The magistrate dismissed the suspect’s plea to be given a non-custodial sentence to enable him reconcile with the family, saying “the law only provides one sentence for the charge facing you, and I will be violating the law if I give you a sentence that does not exist in law.”
William was accused of staging a robbery at the former assistant minister’s home where he stole Sh1,000 a wallet containing ATM cards and two mobile phones valued at Sh157,000.
The offence was committed sometime in September 2011 at Tett’s home in Karen.
The suspect’s two other accomplices were shot dead by police who responded to an alarm raised by the former minister’s workers.
Kenya has however not executed prisoners on death row for more than two decades.
In August 2009 the then President Mwai Kibaki commuted over 4,000 death row prisoners to life imprisonment.
Kenyan judicial officers have nonetheless continued to sentenced offenders of capital offences to face the hangman’s noose.