The accused pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned before Justice John Onyiego at the Garissa High Court.An uncle to a 17-year-old girl in Garissa was on Tuesday charged before court with her murder.
Principal Prosecution Counsel Bernard Owuor told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions had approved murder charges against the accused for the killing of his niece, Safiya Bilal.
The court heard that the offence was allegedly committed on November 16, 2025, at around midnight at Borehole 5 in Fafi Subcounty, Garissa county.
The accused pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned before Justice John Onyiego at the Garissa High Court.
It is alleged that the deceased was defiled before being strangled to death, after which the accused allegedly orchestrated a failed plan to secretly bury her.
Three people who were initially arrested in connection with the murder have since been turned into prosecution witnesses.
The accused allegedly misled them that the deceased had died of dengue fever, seeking their help to wash and shroud the body in preparation for an Islamic burial.
The prosecution said it would call nine witnesses, including a 13-year-old boy who is under protection, to prove its case.
Justice Onyiego directed that the minor be presented before him later in the day to give testimony, in line with resolutions by the local court users committee giving priority to child witnesses.
The defense sought to defer the plea and requested a second mental assessment, citing a report indicating the accused has “a mild form of mental psychopathology due to psychoactive substance abuse—khat.”
The Prosecution opposed the application, stating that the report concluded that the accused was fit to stand trial and fully understands the nature of the charge facing him.
“The condition does not interfere with his mental status and does not affect his capacity to stand trial. The purpose of conducting such an assessment is to determine the fitness or otherwise of the accused to stand trial,” the prosecutor said.
Owuor told the court that the accused further demonstrated his mental capacity when the court inquired into his professional and family background and whether he understood why he was in court.
“I am a community health worker and a father of two, including a minor who is yet to start schooling,” he told the judge.
Defilement is a serious crime under the Sexual Offences Act, 2006, defined as committing a sexual act that causes penetration with a child - a person under the age of 18.
The law does not recognise a child's capacity to consent to sexual activity, making it a strict liability offense.
On the other hand, murder carries a potential death sentence under the Penal Code, but the Supreme Court ruled the mandatory death penalty unconstitutional in 2017, meaning judges now have discretion to impose life imprisonment or fixed prison terms, considering factors like motive and circumstances.
Should the prosecution prove its case before court, the accused could spend the rest of his life behind bars on grounds of the severity of offences he's accused of committing.
