Woman disappears from court moments after murder conviction

Security personnel and court staff at the Kisumu High court were Wednesday left puzzled after a woman mysteriously disappeared moments after being convicted of murdering her husband.

Martha Auma was found guilty of murdering Jared Ochieng at Kanyakwar Village in Kisumu East District within Kisumu County in May, 2014.

Earlier on, Auma who was out on bond, had sat at the court silently following proceedings as she waited for Justice David Majanja to issue his judgment.

And when her time came, she stood at the dock and listened silently as the judge read the judgment.

After delivering the judgment, Justice Majanja canceled her bond and ordered she be held in custody as she awaited her sentencing on April 11.

Auma then briefly talked to a prison warder who was in court before she walked away.

Majanja became alarmed when he noticed his orders were not being implemented and briefly adjourned a case he was handling.

“I thought I had convicted the woman and ordered that she be in custody, where has she gone to?” posed the judge.

Security officers mounted a search for her within the court corridors to no avail.

Deputy Registrar Mrs Pauline Mbulika said she had reported the matter to the police who have since launched investigations and search for the woman.

“This is the first incident of this nature to happen in our courts in Kisumu. The suspect is being sought,” said Mrs Mbulika.

Earlier, the court heard that on the fateful night, the accused and her late husband were together in their house when neighbours heard loud screams from the house.

Five witnesses that the prosecution lined up in the case linked Auma to the murder.

Beatrice Odhiambo, a neighbour who testified during the course of the proceedings had told the court that she was startled by noises at about half past midnight from the deceased’s house.

When she listened carefully, she said, the noises sounded like a person was being strangled but after sometime the noises died down.

She told the court she was surprised the following day when she heard that the deceased had died.

The prosecution had also produced a white belt that was used to strangle the deceased.

Post mortem results presented by Dr Makrine Adhiambo who also testified in the case indicated that the deceased died as a result of manual strangulation.

In her defense however, Auma had told the court that the deceased was murdered by masked men who raided their home and tied a belt around her husband’s neck.

She said that the men forced her to tighten the belt at gunpoint until he became lifeless and afterwards forced her into a vehicle before abandoning her at a forest that she later learnt was called Kodera forest in Homa Bay County.

In his judgment however, Justice David Majanja said that the accused did not deny that she strangled the deceased.

“On my evaluation of the evidence, I find and hold that the accused was alone in the house on the material night when on her own admission, she strangled the deceased,” said Majanja.

“I therefore find the accused, Martha Auma Nyangol, guilty of the murder of Jared Ochieng Otieno contrary to section 203 as read with section 204 of the Penal Code and I convict her accordingly,” he added.