Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University lecturer murdered in cold blood

A lecturer at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology was on Saturday night killed in cold blood as his wife and children watched.

The incident has sent shock waves among residents of Cannan Estate, where the lecturer lived, and they have expressed concern over the various forms of crime slowly creeping in.

Speaking to The Standard, the late David Ochieng’s wife, Lilian Awuor said the incident occurred at 9pm as the two were returning home from a visit to her husband’s rural home in Seme Kakelo where they had gone to see his parents.

Roughed up

Awuor said she had stepped out of their vehicle to open the gate and let her husband drive in and it was when she was closing the gate that four masked men accosted her.

She said the men roughed her up and surrounded the vehicle all the while demanding for money, cell phones and laptops.

“Three of them had guns while the fourth had a sword. They demanded that I give them money as they directed me towards the car,” she recounted.

However, a gunshot rung out just before they reached the car and a shocked Awuor realised that her husband, who had come out to surrender to the gun men, had been shot from behind and lay dead on the ground.

As this was going on, the couple’s two daughters, who were in the house, watched from a distance.

Undeterred, the gunmen ransacked the car and took some valuables before leading Awuor into the house where they took over Sh10,000.

The gunmen then left the compound and escaped into the night.

Police arrived 20 minutes later and took the body to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary.

Sunday, friends and relatives thronged the late lecturer’s home and there was grief and despair as everyone decried the brutal murder.

Speculation was rife that the hooded assailants could have trailed the deceased from the road indicating that they were familiar with the area.

Seme East Ward Rep Aggrey Ogosi, who visited the home, called for establishment of a strong security unit in the area saying rising insecurity was an issue of great concern.

Police Commandant Nelson Njiiri said investigations have been launched and said they are, for now, treating the incident as robbery.

Very soon

“It is just a matter of time before we catch up with the perpetrators of this crime. We are working with statements collected and hope to make arrests soon,” he said.

Fifty-six-year-old Ochieng was a Finance lecturer at the University’s main campus in Siaya County and also worked as a Finance Consultant. He was a father of four, three daughters and a son.