Man accused of killing his lover on their first date has been charged

Richard Nyakina Ogoko in the dock at a Milimani court where he was charged with murder. He did not take plea because he was unrepresented. PHOTO BY GEORGE NJUNGE

A man accused of killing his lover on their first date was Thursday charged with murder at the Milimani Law Courts.

Richard Nyakina Ogoko, however, did not take plea since he was not represented by an advocate.

Judge James Wakiaga deferred plea to September 7 and directed the State to get an advocate who will represent Mr Ogoko during the trial.

“The suspect cannot take plea unrepresented because the law requires that murder suspects be represented in court,” said Mr Wakiaga.

The charge sheet indicates that Ogoko killed 26-year-old Lydia Nyaboke at Ngong forest.

The man was arrested last Thursday in Gucha, Kisii County.

The police had on Tuesday presented Ogoko in court but asked for five more days before they could formally charge him with murder.

Ms Nyaboke, who was staying with her younger brother in Ngara, Nairobi, was reportedly meeting a boyfriend for the first time and had promised to be back before the end of the day.

By around 6pm, however, she had not returned home, according to her brother, Japheth Onono.

He became worried and called her.

“She told me she was in Ngong and may not come back home. I then asked her for money to buy dinner, which she promised to send in the next five minutes,” Onono recalled the events of July 23.

The money was never sent, prompting Onono to make another call.

Nyaboke’s phone had gone off. Onono’s fears were compounded by the fact that his sister, who worked as an M-Pesa attendant, had told him it was the first date with the man she was meeting.

Lydia’s brother called their mother, Irene Mogeni, in Nyamira County and informed her that he could not trace Nyaboke.

By Monday morning, she had not been found. On the third day, Onono went to Pangani Police Station to report that his sister was missing.

Last Friday, officers from the Special Crimes Prevention Unit called him.

The police informed him they had arrested a man who had owned up to killing his sister and dumping her body in Ngong forest, near Lenana School.

Ogoko will plead to the charge on September 7.

[email protected]