Husband of late singer Chelele found guilty of murdering Eldoret surveyor

The husband of the late musician Diana Chemutai, who was popularly known as Chelele, has been found guilty of murdering an Eldoret-based surveyor in 2012.

Erick Makau was charged alongside his Chelele (now deceased) of murdering Eliud Yego between March 30 and 31, 2012, in Ruseya, Bomet county. The charges against Chelele were terminated following her death. In another case, Makau was charged with killing the wife after her mutilated body was discovered at her Bomet home in Bomet two days after she disappeared on January 7, 2016.

Makau was an AP officer stationed at the Lang'ata SGB and attached to the VIP protection unit. He was assigned to guard then PS Cyrus Njiru six months before he was arrested.

On March 31, 2012, Chief Inspector Musembi Gonga received a call from the area chief that a body had been found along Mogogosiek road near Ruseya near the Kericho-Bomet border. Together with his colleagues, Gonga went to the scene and found a partly charred body of a man. It was lying faceup and the hands were handcuffed at the back.

The officers recovered two spent cartridges at the scene, then took the body to a mortuary.

On Tuesday, High Court Judge Tripsisa Cherere, acting for Justice David Majanja, ruled that the accused shot the deceased and caused his death.

“In the absence of a reasonable account of the firearm, and in light of all the evidence I have outlined, I find and hold that the accused was the person who shot the deceased and caused his death," the ruling read.

Justice Majanja came to the conclusion that all the circumstances, taken cumulatively, formed a chain that showed the "felonious act" was committed by "the accused and no one else".

He said Makau shot Yego in the head. Being a police officer, Makau was expected to know that his actions would inevitably lead to grievous harm or death, the judge said.

“The fact of malice afterthought is further buttressed by the fact that after killing, an attempt was made to dispose of the body by burning it with kerosene.”

During the trial, the prosecutor’s cross-examination of the accused had suggested that the death was a result of a love triangle between Makau, Chelele and Yego, but the judge said the motive was not clear.

The prosecution had 11 witnesses, while the accused gave sworn testimony and called only one witness.

One prosecution witness, a watchman at CIS Mara Guesthouse in Bomet, said he was on duty on March 30, 2012, patrolling the compound at about 6pm. He saw a black saloon car parked outside. He went in and met Chelele. He knew her as she was a regular customer, the witness said. Chelele told him she had booked Room 6 for a male guest (Yego) and requested him to serve her guest with water, which he did.

The witness said she alerted him that her guest was being followed by police officers. He found the guest lying in bed and did not seem well. At around 11pm, two men, one in a civilian clothe and another in an army uniform, arrived at the guesthouse and requested access to Room 6. He declined to let them in.

The guard's colleagues later came and the two men identified themselves as police officers by showing their badges. His colleagues then escorted them to the room and were told to go back.

The witness said they heard a commotion at the room shortly thereafter and soon saw Chelele and the two officers lead the guest to the black saloon car.

Another witness was a firearm expert who analysed Makau's gun of the officers and the spent cartridges. His results showed culpability.

An arms registry was also produced in court. It confirmed that the accused had been allocated the pistol on January 10, 2012, and had not returned it by the time Yego was killed.

“The same pistol was retrieved from the accused on the night of April 19-20, 2012. Indeed, the accused, in his defence, admitted that he had been issued with a firearm and was in possession of it at the time of the incident and at the time of the arrest," the ruling read.

An examination of the mobile phone data also linked Makau, Chelele and Yego to the crime scene. Alo relied on by the prosecution was the recovery of Yego's vehicle from Makau's home in Kibwezi.

Makau had denied killing Yego, saying his nature of work as a PS guard could not enable him to travel to Rift Valley, especially Bomet, and, so, there was no way he could have committed the crime. His lawyer suggested that Chelele could have killed Yego, as she was the only person "with access to his gun" and often travelled to perform in different places. 

The defence lawyer said Makau had been informed that his wife hired Yego's vehicle, which, he added, broke down and had to be parked at his Kibwezi home. Makau, however, admitted during cross-examination that he had not lost his phone. He could not, therefore, explain how his phone ended up at the crime scene on the night Yego was killed.

“When examined alongside the prosecution's case, I find his defence wanting ... The deceased had communicated with the accused on the phone shortly before he was shot and killed using the accused's pistol, and the deceased's vehicle was retrieved from the accused person’s home. The facts presented all pointed to the accused's guilt," Justice Majanja said.

The case had been transferred from the High Court in Kericho to the Criminal Division at the High Court, Nairobi, before it was eventually moved to the High Court in Kisumu following an application by Makau's lawyer on grounds of his safety.