Soldier could face five years in jail for bigamy

By Evelyn Kwamboka

A soldier charged with bigamy swore an affidavit that her first husband was dead while he is still alive.

Mr John Okwitsia Otindo, who married Mariam Mumina in 1997, is alive and testified in the bigamy case as the fifth witness on February 9, last year.

"Deep in her mind she knew she needed to do some damage control to prevent anybody from discovering her ill motives," Chief Prosecutor Paul Makonge said.

Makonge claims in his submissions filed in court that the woman had sworn an affidavit to unlawfully convince the second husband, Mr Paul Mutemi, that she was not committed to another person.

"She wanted to unlawfully and knowingly convince Mutemi that she was alone and their marriage was justified by the death of the said Otindo," Makonge said.

Mumina is accused of committing bigamy in Garissa. She allegedly lied and entered into a marriage at Garissa Magistrate’s Court with Mutemi on October 25, 1998 while another legal marriage was in existence between her and Otindo.

Grievous harm

She is further accused of assaulting her second husband on December 8, 2004 at Tassia flats in Embakasi causing him grievous harm.

Chief Magistrate Gilbert Mutembei will deliver his judgment on May 11. She would be sentenced to five years imprisonment if found guilt.

According to Section 171 of the Penal Code, any person who, having a husband or wife living, goes through a ceremony of marriage, which is void by reason of its taking place during the life of the husband or wife, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for five years.

It is the prosecution’s case that a marriage certificate produced by Mumina, as that of Otindo and Ms Esther Ongaya was a fake document.

The Registrar of Marriages is said to have rejected the document. An original marriage certificate booklet with the counterfoils for the time and duration reflected in the document does not exist.

In her defence of April 14, Mumina claimed both the men who married her had other wives. Mumina said she found a marriage certificate between Otindo and Ongaya hidden under a carpet in her matrimonial home.