Three charged with killing man in a love triangle

Three men including a 17-year-old have been charged with the murder of a man alleged to have snatched a girlfriend from one of them.

Mohammed Were and his brother Ismael Oduor were charged alongside the Form Three boy with killing Newton Omenda on July 18 at their Eshiaka village, Mumias East sub-county.

According to court documents, the three were alleged to have accosted the deceased with the girl aboard a motorcycle.

Were who is said to have befriended the girl before they separated is said to have stopped the motorcycle, blindfolded Omenda before, jointly with his friends, assaulting him with machetes, clubs and metallic bars.

The girl’s attempts to rescue him from the assailants were futile. She was also attacked and had to flee.

She reported the matter to her family, who rushed to the scene and found Omenda in a pool of blood, his right ear completely chopped off.

Officers from Mumias Police Station took the boy to St Irene Hospital for first aid before he was referred to St Mary’s Mission Hospital in Mumias.

The girl is said to have reported the matter to the police, saying she positively identified her former husband and the other attackers.

The three have been in police custody since July 22 after investigators were granted more time to conclude their probe.

They were arrested after police recovered a machete and a sword believed to have been the murder weapons.

Omenda succumbed to the injuries on July 20 at the hospital.

A postmortem revealed the cause of death was severe head injury secondary to blunt force trauma following assault.

The three denied murder charges when they appeared before High Court judge Jesse Njagi.

They were granted Sh500,000 bond with a surety of similar amount each.

Their case will be heard on November 7.