On April 10, 2010, at around 8pm Beth Bori was with her husband Gordon Okiri and her co-wife Roselyn Aketch in their home in Omia Diere, Kisumu County when the dog started barking.
Okiri’s brother Henry Okello was approaching the home and when Okiri saw him, he said the dog was barking because of Okello’s arrival.
When Okello heard his brother’s remark, he became angry and accused Okiri of calling him a dog.
The 75-year-old swung his walking stick and struck Okiri on the head accusing him of disrespect.
Not one to take the attack lying down, Okiri fought back, grabbed his brother’s walking stick and hit him back, Okello tripped and fell into a ditch where a fight ensured.
As the fight continued, Aketch and Bori screamed for help and Aketch’s son Collins Oloo who was in the compound came to the rescue.
He found his uncle on top of his father and after much struggle was able to separate them. It was then Oloo noticed that his father was bleeding profusely.
The still angry Okello then confronted Bori and stabbed her in the chest and when Oloo heard her screams, he picked up a stick and hit his uncle in an attempt to restrain him.
By the time neighbours got to the home, Okiri was dead, Bori was bleeding and Okello had retreated to his home.
Oloo filed a report at the police station and at about 11 pm, police and the village elder Enock Misula searched the scene of crime and recovered the twisted metallic walking stick.
They then went to Okello’s house, where they found a bloody knife among his belongings, and arrested him.
Arraigned in court, facing murder charges, Okello said his brother insulted him and while a fight ensued, he did not intend to kill him.
He alleged that Okiri’s family was trying to frame him because of a grudge they held against him for reporting the sale and consumption of alcohol and bhang at Aketch’s home.
On March 26, 2014, Okello was found guilty of murder at the Kisumu High Court, and was sentenced to death.
Dissatisfied with the court’s ruling, he appealed the conviction saying murder was not proven and there was evidence of provocation.
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Delivering their judgment on July 29, 2016, appellate judges David Maraga, Daniel Musinga, and Stephen Kairu agreed with Okello’s assertions and reduced the charge from murder to manslaughter.
They set aside his death sentence and instead gave him a five year jail term backdated to March 26, 2014.
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