Kangemi man jailed 20 years for killing wife

A man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing his wife by stabbing her four times in 2016.

Thomas Ochango, 35, will now serve 17-year term as the sentence is meant to run from the time of his arrest when he was remanded in 2016.

“I have noted that the accused is remorseful for his actions. However, the remorse he feels will not bring back the lost life,” the court ruled.

 Ochango was charged with killing his wife Phylis Minyoso on June 6, 2016, in their house in Kangemi, Nairobi.

The two lived together with Minyoso’s two daughters in a single roomed house. The girls called their stepfather Nyayo, because he often used threatening words.

On the fateful day, the younger daughter had accompanied her mother to the salon leaving her sister behind preparing dinner at around 6pm. They thought that Ochango had left for work.

“While at the salon, he called my late mother. I had the phone at the time and I picked the call. He wanted us to go back home, so we left,” the daughter said.

The girl said they found her stepfather waiting for them at the gate. He seemed unhappy about something.

The other daughter who had been left at home said she had noticed that her stepfather had a new knife hidden in his clothes. She, however, did not pay much attention to it.

The court heard that the family ate dinner and went to sleep. In the morning, the two girls went to school leaving behind their mother and the accused.

Evidence by the prosecution shows that between 6.45am and 7am, David Njiru, a neighbour, heard screams coming from one of the iron sheet houses in Bottomline, Kangemi.

Njiru said the screams were coming from the house behind his, so he rushed there. 

“I found a lot of blood at a house. That was the house where the screams was coming from. I pushed the door open. We saw a woman lying down with bloodstained clothes. Her husband was present. I saw a cut on the neck. She was in bad shape," he said.

With the help of neighbours, Njiru said Minyoso was taken to a nearby clinic where she died. The accused was taken to Kangemi AP post by members of the public where he was taken in custody then later transferred to Kangemi police station.

Ochango appeared in a Milimani court where he denied the charges.

In his defence, the accused told the court that on the morning of June 6, 2016, his wife asked for money for fare. He claimed to have gone to look for change since he did not have loose cash and when he returned he found her dead.

"On returning, I found Minyoso on the ground near the door of our house. I called neighbours who assisted me to take her to hospital,” he testified.

Ochango told the court he was asked to report the matter to the police, having been the first person at the scene of crime.

 “When I got to the chief’s office, I was not released. Instead I was taken to the police station and placed in custody before I was later charged with murder.

The police went to the scene and saw blood stains on the floor. The house was in disarray - evidence of a vicious confrontation. At the clinic, the officers saw stab wounds on Minyoso’s chest.

Ochango is the second last born in a family of eight. He dropped out of school in Standard Six after his father died. He had been living with the accused for five years before the incident occurred.

He was married to another wife with three children and he was taking care of the two families.

In March 28 this year, High Court judge Stella Mutuku found Ochango guilty of murder. The judge ruled that from the evidence, Minyoso and Ochango are the only two people who were in their house after the children left for school. 

“Nothing points to having anyone near or inside the house. I'm convinced that the accused is the only person who could have attacked and stabbed her. The extent of injuries suffered attest to the viciousness of the attack,” she said.

“What I find strange though, is that there were no defence injuries on the deceased. It makes me wonder if she was attacked suddenly without a chance to defend herself."

According to the postmortem report, Minyoso had four stab wounds; one in her heart, another on the right chest near the breast, the third one on the right cheek and the last on the back between the shoulders.

“She also had two slash wounds on the right side of the stomach. Both lungs were perforated and two of her ribs fractured. And three litres of blood were found in her chest,” government doctor Johansen Odiwuor.

“She died of excessive loss of blood due to severe chest injuries”.