Isiolo man to hang after friendly quarrel turned tragic

On a hot afternoon on February 7, 2008 at around 5pm, Simon Ngomoro and Marko Ebonyo were walking home along a village path in Maili Tano, Isiolo County.

The two were quarrelling as they walked and when they met up with their childhood friends Peter Emuria and John Longeritoe there were no pleasantries exchanged as Ngomoro immediately lunged for the knife which Emuria wore on his waist.

In Maili Tano most young men walk around with a knife tucked around their waist. It was therefore not uncommon that Emuria was carrying a weapon with him in plain sight.

A bit startled by Ngomoro’s actions, Emuria immediately attempted to keep him from taking the knife.

They struggled a little and Emuria sustained deep cuts on his hand which made him let go of it.

Ngomoro then turned his rage on his friend Ebonyo and plunged the knife into his chest killing him instantly.

He then pulled out the knife and fled, the weapon in his hand.

He escaped justice for a whole year until January 17, 2009 when he was arrested by guards at Likurruki Wildlife Conservation on suspicion of having stolen cattle.

Ngomoro was in the company of three others and they were all armed with knives. It was later identified by Emuria and Longeritoe that the knife in his possession was the same weapon that had been used to kill Ebonyo.

In his defense, Ngomoro claimed that on the day of the murder, he was employed as a casual labourer in Embu and was not in Isiolo as claimed by his friends.

He also insisted that he was arrested and charged with an offence related to cattle theft and not murder as he was being accused.

Unconvinced by his defense on February 2, 2014 the trial judge sentenced Ngomoro to death for the offense of murder noting that the prosecutions’ case was watertight.

Ngomoro appealed the decision at the Court of Appeal in Nyeri sitting in Meru and presided over by Appellate Court judges Phillip Waki, Roselyn Naliaka and Patrick Kiage.

The judges dismissed his appeal on June 24, 2016 and upheld the lower court’s ruling.

They found Ngomoro guilty of murder based on his calculated actions on the day in question noting that his blow was intended to cause death.

“This attack was unprovoked and premeditated. Ngomoro was clearly determined and resolute about inflicting fatal injury given that he went for the knife wrestled for it and used it to kill Ebonyo,” the judges said in their ruling.