Kakamega man kills father over ugali

A woman yesterday told a court that her son killed his father over a plate of ugali.

Christine Lumbukhu was testifying at the High Court in Kakamega against her biological son Vincent Makhalasia, who is charged with the murder of his father, Atanas Matayos, on July 12, 2013 in Mundulu village.

Lumbukhu testified that on the fateful day, she had gone to a shop in the morning to buy sugar, only to return to find her son thoroughly beating up his father.

“He (Makhalasia) had spent the previous night in a funeral vigil. I had prepared him ugali for dinner in anticipation that he would return, but he failed to do so. He however turned up the following morning and found out that his father had eaten his share,” she said.

She added: “This seemed not to please my son, who demanded to know why his father ate his share. He then picked up a stick and hit him several times on the head, right hand and right leg, leaving him for dead.”

During cross-examination by Makhalasia through his advocate Kundu Wesutsa, Lumbukhu was asked whether she witnessed the murder.

“Yes. I walked in and found my husband wailing while saying ‘my son is killing me, my son is killing me!’ When he (Makhalasia) saw me, he walked away. My husband was bleeding from the head and I helped him to rest in the house. When I inquired from him what had caused the violence, he revealed that it had happened because he had eaten my son’s ugali,” she said.

Another witness, Julius Angote, (Makhalasia’s younger brother) told the court that he had gone to do menial jobs when the incident occurred.

“I got information that my brother had grievously assaulted our father when I returned from my work in the evening. I found my father still alive but ailing. He told me he had been beaten by Makhalasia. He had a swollen head and complained of pain, then he passed on,” he said.

There was obvious tension throughout the court session where the justice system demanded that the family members testify against their own.

The advocate of the accused separately asked the two witnesses to point at the alleged murderer. “Do you know the accused, how are you related to each other and would you please point to the court who the accused is,” Wesutsa demanded.

With a casual show of the hand, the two separately pointed at their kin, who was seated in the opposite dock, both avoiding direct eye contact. The two are the first to testify in the matter and were taken through the court proceedings in native Isukha, a Luhya dialect, by a court interpreter because they did not understand either Kiswahili or English.

State counsel Patrick Oroni promised to produce three more prosecution witnesses against the accused before the case comes to a close. Judge Chacha Mwita will hear the case on June 27.