This archive report was first published on 3 July 2019.
On July 3, 2019, a High Court judge, Justus Bwonwonga, found Isaac Kirui guilty of murdering his wife, Damaris Kibe.
The court heard that Kirui had beaten and forced Damaris to take poison, leading to her death.
According to the prosecution, Kirui committed the offence in 2013, and the case was brought to trial after five witnesses testified against him.
One of the witnesses, Lucy Ntutu, the couple's landlord, testified that Damaris and Kirui lived together in a one-room house as husband and wife.
A postmortem revealed that Damaris's stomach had semi-digested material with tiny white particles, and her head had a bruise.
Pathologist Titus Ngulungu said the cause of death was due to chemical poisoning and gastritis, and the large bruise at the back of the head was due to blunt trauma.
Organophosphate pesticide was found in the samples sent to the government analyst, which is used to kill pests and can cause death when ingested by humans.
During cross-examination, Ngulungu said the poison was orally administered.
He also stated, 'Usually, people who commit suicide do not have other injuries. According to the doctor, the injuries suggested forced ingestion and the injury on the body of the deceased was inflicted before death.'
Other witnesses, including Douglas Angima and Thomas Mwinga, testified that Damaris had told them she had disagreements with her husband and needed their help before her death.
In his defence, Kirui had said the deceased was his girlfriend, but the judge disagreed, ruling that the evidence disclosed murder and not manslaughter.
He stated, 'In the circumstances, I find that the evidence discloses murder and not manslaughter. The upshot of the foregoing is that I find the accused is guilty of murder and therefore convict him of murder contrary to Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the Penal Code.'
