The High Court in Eldoret today sentenced a 29-year-old man to death after he was found guilty of killing his brother’s three children three years ago.
Justice Stephen Githinji handed the death sentence to Enoch Onsanse who was found guilty of murdering James Ratemo Nyambane’s children - Clifford Nyambane, 6, Tanny Nyamweya, 5, and Glen Ongaki, 3.
Justice Githinji during his virtual sentencing noted that the prosecution had proved their case beyond any reasonable doubt and that the accused was guilty of the three counts of murder.
“I therefore sentence the accused to death on each of the three offences. However, in execution of the sentences, two of the sentences will be held in abeyance,” ordered Justice Githinji.
After the reading of the judgment, Onsanse’s lawyer Mathai Maina in mitigation stated that he was remorseful and sought a lenient sentence.
However, Justice Githinji noted that the heinous crime in which the accused strangled his nephews and threw their bodies in a river would not be pardoned.
“A family lost all its three children in the hands of the accused person. The convict showed his hate for his brother and diverted his anger against three innocent children. Nothing can offer mitigation for such crimes to save the court from giving a death sentence for each offence he committed,” said Justice Githinji.
The trial had taken place since 2017, with 13 prosecution witnesses including the slain minor’s parents and siblings testifying in court.
During the trial, the court heard that there was bad blood between the accused and his elder brother, the father of the three children.
The court was told that the accused had even sent threatening messages to his brother way before the children were found murdered.
Justice Githinji in his decision noted that although there were no witnesses who saw the accused commit the murder, making the evidence in court circumstantial in nature, the evidence given in court had a bearing.
“The accused was identified by several persons as the last person to be seen with the children before their murder. The evidence was well collaborated by the witnesses,” noted the judge in his judgment.
The three children went missing on May 13, 2017. A week later, their bodies were recovered from river Nzoia on May 19.
Postmortem reports from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital would later confirm that the children were strangled before their bodies were dumped in the river.
During the hearing of the case in 2018, a witness told the court that he saw the accused with the deceased children the same day they went missing.
He told Justice Githinji that he saw Onsase with the three children at Chepkoilel Matatu terminus along Eldoret-Iten road on the same Saturday they went missing.
“I saw Enoch with the three children donned in white T-Shirts and jeans, he was ahead of me as I was heading to my workshop that morning, “he told the court.
He further stated that the accused was known to him as he used to work for his brother.
The children’s mother Ebby Isaji broke down as she testified how the accused person refused to pick her relentless calls when she was calling to enquire from him of the whereabouts of her missing children.
“My efforts to reach my brother-in-law to enquire if he had seen my children proved futile, he completely refused to pick up my phone call,” she said during the emotional court hearing.
Ratemo told the court that as the family went through the burial arrangements for the deceased children, his brother had called him using a strange number, asking him to forgive him for what he did.
“Your honour as we were planning for the burial of my deceased children I received a call from someone whom I perceived to be my brother while in custody asking me to forgive him for what he did to me. The caller told me that he knew that it was painful for me while requesting forgiveness,” he told the court.
Another witness who is a minor also told the court that he saw the accused person standing on the rock where the children were last seen before disappearing.
She said she saw them that fateful morning while she was heading to her Eldoville Sabbath School.
Onsanse was put on his defence after the close of the prosecution case. He denied having taken police officers to the scene where the children’s bodies were dumped in a river.
He also denied recording any statement with the police nor quarrelling with his brother over any issues. He claimed that he was not involved in the murder of his niece and nephews.
But the court noted that the evidence linked him to the murder.
“The accused defence does not avail an escape from the conclusion that the circumstances taken cumulatively formed a chain so complete that they lead to the conclusion that the accused is responsible for the crimes,” read the judgment.
The court held that Onsanse had waited for the victims on their way to church and willingly misled a minor who was with the children in order to have the children in his custody and disappeared with them only for them to be found dead.
