Three on death row will now serve 30 years

Three murder convicts sentenced to death will now serve 30 years in prison instead.

Martin Ouma, Joseph Otieno and Lencer Anyango were found guilty of murdering Kevin Abich for being in a relationship with one of them.

They were accused of luring Abich to his death in Nyoniang’ village, Migori county, in 2013.

Justices Asike Makhandia, Fatuma Sichale and Kantai ole Sankale of the Court of Appeal in Kisumu on Monday confirmed the conviction.

The trio had appealed the death sentence handed by the High Court, saying they were not responsible for Abich’s murder.

Court documents showed Abich had been in a relationship with Anyango, but her brother Otieno was against it and wanted to end it.

According to the documents, Abich’s left hand was cut during the attack.

Geoffrey Onyango, Abich’s brother, told the court that on the day of the attack Anyango had asked Abich to meet her.

Onyango said he accompanied his brother and they found Anyango standing next to her brother’s house.

Anyango ushered them into the house but immediately they were inside, the door was locked from the outside and the three accused started assaulting them.

Onyango said he immediately kicked open the door and ran home, leaving Abich behind. He told their father what had happened.

They set out to look for Abich and found him lying on a tobacco farm with deep cuts.

Onyango said a crowd was milling around him and that’s when they realised he was dead. His hands had been severed.

But Ouma, Otieno and Anyango denied killing Abich.

They argued that the trial judge erred in law by holding that their recognition was conclusive, even though the attack took place at night.

“The learned judge erred in law and in fact in passing a harsh and excessive sentence against the appellants,” they argued.

But the three-judge bench said one of the witnesses who testified in the case said that he seen the attack and the appellants were next to him.

The judges said the witness was lucky to have escaped.

 “The prosecution witness placed the appellants directly at the scene of crime and was there when the assault began and that there was direct evidence that the judge relied on in finding the appellants guilty,” the judges said.

The autopsy report presented in court showed Abich died as a result of severe haemorrhage secondary to deep cuts.

“We are inclined to interfere with the sentence imposed. We substitute the sentence of death imposed on the appellants with a sentence of 30 years imprisonment,” the judges directed.

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya