Four people have been convicted of the murder of a man who advocated safe circumcision.
The four were on September 2, 2015, jointly charged with others not before court with murdering Shadrack Jerusi at Gimarani village in Vihiga County.
Joshua Anusu, Wycliffe Ruya, Oscar Aguninda and Japhet Imbale have been put on their defence by the High Court in Kakamega.
Justice Patrick Otieno labelled the killing of a man whose only "sin" was advocating safe circumcision "crude and barbaric".
The judge wondered how such a barbaric act could happen in the 21st century. According to court records, Jerusi was stoned and whipped to his death as some cheered.
"The investigating officer testified Mr Jerusi was in a group advocating a Christian way of conducting circumcision, which collided with another which advocated a traditional way. The accused continually assaulted him (Jerusi) with stones and sticks, with the third accused lifting a heavy stone which he smashed on his head while the first accused uttered the words 'finish him'," he stated in his ruling.
"The court is in no doubt that the intention of the accused was to inflict grievous bodily harm if not to outrightly kill Jerusi."
The judge ordered the probation department to give the court a pre-sentencing report.
Among the witnesses was Jerusi's son, Allan Andiga, who testified that he was alerted by a boy that his father was being killed.
"I rushed to the scene and found one of the accused persons stoning him as he lay helplessly on the ground. Another one was beating him with a stick. The two chased me away with stones," he said.
"I stood at a distance watching them kill my father with stones and machetes."
Justice Otieno noted the prosecution proved, beyond reasonable doubt, the accused killed the Christian circumcision advocate.
"The court finds them guilty for the offence of murder as charged and enters a conviction against all of them," said Otieno.
One of the accused persons, David Musoga, died on March 1 last year and his case was terminated.
In their defence, the accused said they were not at the scene of the murder and that they were each called by police to help carry Jerusi's body to a police vehicle.
"On February 9, 2015, I rushed to the scene of crime and found the body of Jerusi on the roadside with stones near it," said Harun Komoni, the assistant chief of Tigoi sub-location.
The four will be sentenced on March 16.
