Domestic violence, murder, then a one-day sentence over brutal killing of husband

A woman charged with slashing her husband to death in defence has earned her liberty in a plea bargain deal.

Reduced from murder to manslaughter, the woman who used a machete the husband had purposed to accomplish his mission of cutting her into pieces, was ordered to serve a one-day non-custodial sentence in jail.

In the decision made on International Women's Day, the court advised everyone in abusive relationships to run for their lives and not wait for the worst. The High Court sitting in Siaya also undertook to take care of Trufena Ndonga Aswani’s travel expenses to help her reach a safe place after serving the sentence slapped on her.

“Run for your lives, both women and men who are abused. There is no love that can never be lost. Yet love should never be lost by killing one another. Find an escape route to safety. Do not condone violence being meted on you!” Justice Roselyne Aburili said.

In the landmark decision set to elicit fresh discussions on the vice that is domestic violence, the judge said through this judgment, the woman who changed her plea of guilty of murder to that of being guilty to manslaughter and others who may have undergone domestic and gender-based violence, may have a voice.

The judge said that from the violence the women endured in the relationship in which a love that had blossomed turned sour, evidence adduced in court described the deceased as an irresponsible, violent, brutal and torturous human being who did not treat the woman with any dignity or respect at all.

In the case, Jared Obochi (deceased) had returned home late on December 14 after a drinking spree as was his norm and was served with dinner; and after he had fed and while intoxicated, he picked a quarrel with the accused.

Obochi demanded to be given a land title deed that his father had bequeathed Trufena to protect the family from ending up in the cold. The father had fears that he would sell the property due to his drinking habits.

When she declined, the man grabbed a machete but before he could slash her, she got hold of it before cutting her husband several times and killing him. She then dragged his body and concealed it using grass in a neighbour’s farm, some 200 meters away from their home.

“The deceased was intoxicated as usual and had he killed the accused, it would just add to another case of manslaughter because he was under intoxication and the accused person’s story would never be told by anyone since the dead tell no tales. We would never know that the accused herein was undergoing domestic violence which she had lived with throughout her marriage to the deceased,” the judge added.

Prior to her plea taking, she had been subjected to a mental examination at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral hospital where she was found to be mentally fit to stand trial.

For several years, she told the court in her mitigation that she had endured domestic violence which had placed her own life on the line through the frequent beatings she was subjected to by her deceased husband.

Outside her house, she was a respected village elder who many thought had everything in order whenever incidences including the death of her own husband occurred.

“Ni ukweli Nilimuua lakini si kupanga kumuua marehemu” (It is true I killed him but I did not plan to kill the deceased,” she told a stunned Siaya court when she was arraigned to answer to the murder charges.

And despite her admission, a plea of not guilty was entered by the court on grounds that her admission to the murder charge had been equivocal.

A plea of guilty was later entered after the charge was reduced to manslaughter with the accused maintaining her stand on her involvement on her husband’s murder.

On Tuesday, however, when the judge’s hammer fell to mark the end of her court session, Ndoga walked to her freedom in an unusual ruling that not only secured her freedom but also defended her actions on grounds that she had been a victim of domestic violence acting on self-defense.