For more than a year, two families in Kericho have lived with an unbearable reality: the men they loved left for work one evening and never returned home.
Charles Rotich and Joseph Langat were on duty as night guards at Roret Farmers’ Cooperative Society on the night of November 19, 2024, when armed robbers stormed the premises.
By dawn, both men were dead, killed while protecting property entrusted to their care.
Today, their families say the pain of losing them has been compounded by what they describe as a frustrating silence from the very institutions tasked with investigating their deaths.
Unable to get answers, the families have now taken the matter to the High Court in Kericho, seeking orders to compel state agencies to account for the status of investigations into the killings.
Vincent Kipkorir, administrator of the estate of Charles Rotich, and Yvonne Chepkoech, administrator of the estate of Joseph Langat, through advocate Kipkoech Ng’etich, have filed separate constitutional petitions against the Inspector General of Police, the Director of Criminal Investigations, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Attorney General.
The petitions paint a painful picture of families trapped between grief and uncertainty.
According to court documents, Charles Rotich left home on the evening of November 19, 2024, as he had done countless times before.
He was heading to his workstation at Roret Farmers’ Cooperative Society, where he earned a living as a security guard.
His family had no reason to believe that the routine shift would be his last.
That same night, armed robbers reportedly raided the cooperative society and fled with several bags of coffee.
In the course of the attack, Rotich and his colleague, Joseph Langat, were brutally killed.
The incident was reported at Roret Police Station and entered in the Occurrence Book under Number 02/19/11/2024.
For the families, the days immediately after the killings were filled with shock and mourning.
They expected that investigators would quickly pursue those responsible and provide updates on the progress of the case.
Instead, they say they have spent months moving from one office to another in search of information.
Court papers reveal that relatives repeatedly wrote letters and made follow-ups with investigating officers, hoping to learn whether any suspects had been identified or arrested.
Their efforts, however, yielded little.
“For sixteen agonising months, the family of the deceased has desperately tried to follow up on the progress of the investigation, letter after letter, but their efforts have been met with hither and thither responses, murmurs and express disinterest from the State,” the petitions state.
The families say the silence has left them feeling abandoned.
While the grief of losing a loved one is difficult enough, they argue that not knowing whether justice will ever be served has made healing impossible.
Every passing month, they fear, increases the possibility that crucial evidence could disappear and memories of witnesses could fade.
Lawyer Ng’etich says the families have exhausted all available avenues in their quest for answers. Now, they are asking the High Court to intervene.
In their petitions, they argue that the prolonged delay in investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the murders violates several constitutional rights, including the right to fair administrative action and access to information.
They contend that state agencies have a duty not only to investigate crimes but also to keep victims' families informed about the progress of investigations.
The two families further argue that the conduct of the authorities falls short of the standards expected of public officers under the Constitution, including accountability, transparency, and prompt service delivery.
The high court has since ordered the families to serve the various government departments with the suit.
Directions in the case will be issued on July 20, 2026.
