Corridors of justice: Teacher to serve 30 years in jail for killing spouse

Martha Auma Nyagol stared at the court ceiling, lowered her face and muttered a short prayer as the judge read out the sentence.

“I find the accused guilty of murdering her husband Jared Ochieng’ Otieno and convict her accordingly,” ruled Kisumu High Court Judge, Justice David Majanja as he handed Auma 30 years in jail.

A few minutes later, court orderlies whisked Auma into a waiting van to begin her sentence at the Kodiaga Prison.

With the drop of the gavel, Justice Majanja ended her career as a primary school teacher. She looked forlorn and subdued.

Her in-laws trooped out the courtroom and declined to speak to the media. Fighting back tears, the teacher’s elder sister Lilian Ajwang’ described the sentence harsh and shocking.

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“We are heartbroken as a family. We don’t know what to do,” she told the Saturday Standard.

Ms Ajwang’ said Auma’s only child, a three-year-old girl, lives with her 70-year-old grandmother in Kabondo.

Auma, 22, made headlines after she mysteriously disappeared from the courtroom shortly after she was convicted of the murder of her husband in 2014.

She was found guilty of killing Jared Ochieng at Kanyakwar village in May, 2014. Witnesses said the couple’s two year marriage was dogged by domestic rows.

Justice Majanja cancelled Auma’s bond and ordered that she be held in custody to await sentencing.

But instead of going to the underground cells she disappeared. Reports indicated that Auma spoke with a prison warder inside the courtroom before she walked out. And when Auma reappeared the following day, she told the judge that she did not know she was supposed to be detained after the ruling.

She explained that a breakdown in communication between court officials and the police led to her walking away.

Through her lawyer, Steve Odumbe, she said she consulted an officer, who told her to go home and come back at a later date for sentencing.

“She never intended to disobey this honourable court. She has never absconded any court proceedings and she is very apologetic for this incident,” Mr Odumbe said.

She was out on bond since the trial began, but Majanja cancelled the same after she was found guilty. Yesterday, Justice Majanja said the crime she had been convicted with deserves, “a sentence that expresses the court’s and society’s abhorrence particularly where a spouse is involved”.

Auma was accused of strangling her husband to death using a belt. Five witnesses testified in the case.