How DNA match landed Baringo man 20 years in jail for girlfriend's murder

Judge gavel and cuffs. [Courtesy/GettyImages]

The results of a DNA sample led to the conviction of a 32-year-old man who killed his girlfriend while grazing livestock 10 years ago in Baringo.

Eldama Ravine High Court judge, Rachel Ngetich, sentenced Anthony Kimutai to 20 years.

The judge noted that Kimutai was not remorseful of killing Gladys Cherono on March 30, 2015, at Chetililik in Baringo County.

Kimutai's DNA samples produced in court linked him to the murder, as they revealed that he had sexually assaulted her, killed her, then staged a suicide.

“He has continued to deny responsibility and doesn’t demonstrate genuine remorse; he merely states that Cherono was his girlfriend, and there is no indication of personal accountability for the unlawful taking of her life,” the court observed.

Daisy Chepkemoi had testified that her daughter went to graze livestock and fetch firewood but failed to return.

The delay forced her mother to send her son to check on her and bring the livestock back home.

Later, at 5 pm, she went to their farm to check on her daughter. She found a rope and a leso near Emining River.

She discovered her daughter’s body tied with a rope to a tree; her mobile phone was on the ground.

Shocked by the discovery, Chepkemoi ran home, screaming, calling for help.

The next day, the police arrived and took the body to the morgue, and her daughter’s phone was taken for forensic analysis.

She claimed that Kimutai had been to their home that day, and upon asking him what he wanted, he alleged they had problems with her daughter.

The postmortem report revealed that Cherono was strangled and had sustained head injuries.

The government chemist's specialist, Susan Wanjiru, revealed that seminal stains recovered from the deceased's undergarment matched the DNA profile generated from Kimutai’s Sample.

“This confirms recent sexual contact between Kimutai and Cherono immediately before death,” Wanjiru added.

The investigating officer, Boniface Chebus, testified that upon visiting the scene, he found Cherono’s body.

He claimed that Cherono had a mobile phone, and upon checking the message, he found that Kimutai had texted her on their meet-up.

He added that the DNA sample collected from the duo matched, an indication that they met that day.

In his defence, Kimutai claimed that Cherono had been his girlfriend for the past year before the incident.

That day, he tried to call her but was unreachable, as she was going to the salon.

He refused to threaten to kill her if she left him.

The court observed that the call data, DNA results, and Kimutai’s own admissions pointed to him as the person who lured Cherono, sexually assaulted her, and caused her death.

“I have considered the seriousness and gravity of the offence. The loss of a young woman’s life in circumstances that the court found to constitute murder is a grave and irreversible harm,” the court added.

Kimutai was sentenced to serve 20 years in jail.