Police on the spot over missing OB record in murder trial

Lilian Keter at Nakuru High Court before Justice Joel Ngugi on September 4, 2019 during her defence hearing. [Kipsang Joseph/Standard]

Police failed to produce an Occurrence Book (OB) extract in court to confirm that a woman accused of killing her husband had earlier reported that he had attempted to commit suicide.

Lilian Keter, who is charged with murdering her husband Ronex Kipkemoi, wanted to use the report as evidence that her husband committed suicide.

Keter, a former Rift Valley Waters Services human resource assistant, is charged alongside her brother Fredrick Koech and nephew Daniel Mwaciru. The incident allegedly took place at Kiamunyi within Nakuru County on April 16, 2016.

The three have denied the charges.

Kipkemoi was an employee of Nakuru Water Sewerage and Sanitation Company.

On Tuesday, the officer in charge of Kiamunyi Administration Police Post, Corporal Anthony Achisa, told Justice Joel Ngugi that the OB extract could not be traced.

According to Achisa, the document might have disappeared during the shift from the Administration Police to Kenya Police Service.

He, however, presented an incident and crime report file showing that Keter reported that her husband had attempted suicide.

The report, under OB Number 7/16/4/2016, indicated that Keter's husband locked himself in his house with an intention to take his own life.

However, the report only indicated the date of the incident and not the time it was reported, prompting State Counsel Amos Chigiti to question its authenticity.

Constable Jane Njeri submitted an OB number issued to Keter, which indicated that the report was made at 8.15pm.

However, according to the prosecution, Kipkemoi had already died by the time Keter went to report the suicide attempt.

Prosecution and defence lawyers will make their final submissions on the case on October 3.