This archive report was first published on 14 May 2020.
A Nakuru man has been found guilty of murdering a woman after she rejected his advances to marry her.
Justice Janet Mulwa delivered the judgement through a video link application on Zoom, ruling that Denis Kipkoech decapitated Rose Awori on December 6, 2016 at Ingobor, Kapkures location within Nakuru County.
The prosecution presented six witnesses, including Hillary Mutua, who testified that he knew the accused and had visited his house on the day of the incident. Mutua claimed that the accused had informed him that he had murdered Awori because she rejected his advances to marry her.
Another witness, Nixon Kipsang, testified that he had run to the accused's house after hearing Mutua's call and found the deceased's body with her head cut off and blood all over.
Dr. Titus Ngulungu, a pathologist, testified that the complete decapitation of the deceased's head around the neck by a sharp object caused her death.
The accused, Denis Kipkoech, denied the charges and claimed that the deceased had gone to his house to collect vegetables and milk on the day of the incident.
However, Justice Mulwa dismissed the defence as an afterthought and ruled that the prosecution had presented sufficient circumstantial evidence to link the accused to the murder.
She stated, 'There is sufficient circumstantial evidence that links the offence to the accused.'
The accused was arraigned on February 6, 2017 and denied the murder charge.
