And elderly man who was accused of killing a married woman after having good time together in a lodging will spend the rest of his life in jail, the High Court in Kisumu has ruled.
According to court documents, Wilson Wego was accused of killing Beatrice Odongo in December 2010 at a bar in Nyalenda location.
A guard who was on duty that night told the court the accused, whom he knew, arrived in the company of a lady and booked a room for the night.
Inside, they were welcomed by a waiter who testified in court that he allowed them to use the room for Sh300. The following morning the waiter reported to work as usual and went about her normal routine of cleaning the rooms.
She knocked door to room five where the duo had booked themselves and as there was no response, she decided to open the door. She was shocked to find the body of the deceased, lying naked on the floor with a panty stuffed in her mouth.
This forced her and her colleagues to call police officers who moved the body to a nearby mortuary. The deceased’s husband identified her body before the post-mortem was done and later found out the deceased could have been strangled.
The officer investigating the case said he received information on January 6, 2011 that a suspect had been arrested at Nyalenda by a village elder and members of the public. Days later, two of the witnesses identified him.
In court, Wego denied any involvement in the deceased’s death, stating that on the material night he was his son at home in Nyalenda and that he did not know the deceased at all.
Through a lawyer, he further pointed out that the receipt for payment was not produced to show that the accused is the person who was booked into room five with the deceased on the material night.
In the judgment High Court Judge David Majanja questioned why the accused was reluctant to provide his identity, noting that the chain of circumstantial evidence is inconsistent with his innocence and points to a felonious intent.
“The totality of the prosecution evidence is that the accused arrived at the bar with the deceased and were ushered into room where they slept. During that night, the accused strangled the deceased and escaped, only to be arrested 6th January 2011” partly reads the judgment.
Stating, “The act of strangling is not a harmless act, it is a deliberate act intended to cause grievous harm if not death. I find and hold that the prosecution proved malice aforethought within the law”. The accused was sentenced to life.
0 comments: