Man found guilty of killing sister-in-law over ‘advice’

A man who killed his sister-in-law over a mobile phone has been found guilty of murder.

High Court judge David Majanja found Silvester Owak to have maliciously strangled Judith Akeyo despite his testimony that he “just pushed her”.

The court heard that on July 26, 2015, Mr Owak left Ms Akeyo with his phone to charge in Seme sub-county of Kisumu County.

He came back at night and asked for it, but Akeyo was hesitant to give it to him, fearing he could lose it to thieves.

That did not go down well with Owak and a fight ensued during which he ended up strangling her. He twisted her head and then dragged the body to the bedroom.

All this happened in front of his 10-year-old nephew, who testified that Owak picked up the phone, took some money from the deceased and left.

“When they started fighting, the pot fell and water poured. They were fighting in the sitting room while I slept in the same room. I was watching as I lay on the floor. The lights were on. It was a tin lamp. My eyes were open. He strangled her and she fell down. He got hold of her neck, twisted the head and she fell down,” the minor testified.

Owak told the court on the material day, he went to his sister-in-law’s house and asked her for the phone.

The court heard that she declined, telling him that it was risky to go out carrying the phone as he could be attacked and lose it to thugs.

Pushed her

The accused unsuccessfully tried to wrest the phone from Akeyo. He told the court that he pushed her and she fell down. He then took the phone.

“She did not get up, so I carried her to the bedroom. I covered her and left. I went to work as usual the following day,” he testified.

He told the court that he learnt of her death in court. He said it was not his intention to kill Akeyo as he treated her like his mother.

But the judge found the child to have given a true narrative of what had happened. He noted that if the deceased had fallen down as the accused had claimed, there would be evidence of injuries resulting from the fall.

“His position is that he merely pushed the deceased and she fell. His version of events is inconsistent with the cause of death. Had the deceased died from a fall, perhaps she would have sustained some injury consistent with a blunt force or trauma. But the evidence is clear that she was strangled. I therefore reject his defence that he merely pushed her,” the judge said.

He said the strangling could not have been unintentional, adding that the man’s guilt was proved by his disappearance from the village for four days after the incident.

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