The Court of Appeal in Kisumu has upheld the conviction of seven men found guilty of murdering two fishermen in Lake Victoria nine years ago.
David Ongata, William Ayugi, Tilleny Odhiambo, Silas Onyango, Tiberious Ododa and Peter Otieno were found guilty by Homa Bay court of murdering Felix Ouma Odhiambo and Lameck Olima Ochieng at Dhogunda beach in Suba in 2010.
The court found that the seven assaulted the two to death. They then tied a huge stone to the head of one of the deceased before throwing the bodies into the lake.
The convicts are said to have attacked the two fishermen on the night of August 16-17, 2010 while fishing in the lake. Another fisherman who was with the deceased became a key witness.
The court heard that the convicts ordered the deceased to give them the fish they had caught that night but they refused, leading to the murders.
The prosecution called 15 witnesses including nine who said they saw the incident.
But the convicts appealed, saying the lower court did not consider their evidence and that the witnesses gave conflicting accounts of the incident.
Before justices Asike Makhandia, Otieno Odek and Patrick Kiage, they said the sentence was excessive.
The three-judge bench dismissed the appeal saying it lacked merit and that the lower court judge did not err in convicting the suspects.
“The appellants mercilessly beat up the deceased persons with pangas, rungus and swords and, as if that was not enough, they tied the first deceased up in ropes and drowned him in the lake”, they said in their.
