Kisii man to serve 25 years in jail for burning eight-year-old boy to death

The High Court in Kisii has handed a 25-year jail term to a man found guilty of murdering an eight-year-old boy.

James Nyandoro appeared before Kisii Judge David Majanja facing charges of having killed Nicodemus Oyugi Mobisa on April 20, 2018, at Botabori Sublocation, Gucha South Sub-county, Kisii County.

“The accused must have known that by pouring paraffin and setting the deceased alight, in circumstances where the deceased had been restrained, would lead to his death or at the very least result in grievous bodily harm,” said Majanja.

The prosecution told the court that Nyandoro found Mobisa stealing in his shop and then set him on fire in order to discipline him with the boy dying due to the complications arising due to the 56% burns on his body.

Wilkister Moraa, the mother to the deceased told the court that on April 20, 2018 at around 3.30pm, the accused phoned her telling her that her son had done something wrong asking her to immediately come to his shop.

“When I arrived at the shop the accused told me that my son had gone through the metal door and stolen from the shop after which he opened the door for me, I took a seat as Nyandoro’s son brought my son to the room where I was,” said Moraa.

The mother to the deceased told the court that the accused placed a carton box on the deceased head and poured paraffin from a container and then set him alight with a matchstick after which she reacted by removing the carton and throwing it on the floor.

She said that the fire spread rapidly on the clothes of her son which were already drenched in paraffin with the boy running and hiding behind her mother who picked the carton box and threw it back at the accused person.

“The people  gathered outside the shop raised an alarm and breaking into the shop after which I managed to get my son out of the shop and rushed him to Etago Hospital where his condition was stabilised before being transferred to Kisii County Hospital where he died on April 21, 2018,” Moraa told the court.

Alice Mong’are who is a grandmother to the deceased told the court she had gone to Nyandoro’s shop at about 4pm to purchase airtime and found him telling his son to get a rope with which he tied the deceased and pushed him to a corner.

“The accused put a Panga on the table and asked me to leave the shop after which he closed the door,  I smelt paraffin as I stood by the window to observe what was happening in the shop and saw the accused put a box on the accused head and light it up,” said Mong’are.

She further told the court that she raised an alarm with locals responding immediately by breaking the door after which she saw her daughter and grandchild running out of the shop as the locals attacked the accused.

When put on his defence the accused person denied committing the offence and told the court that on April 20, 2018, he took his wife to the hospital and at around 4.00pm, he received information that he had been robbed.

“I went to the shop and found many motorbikes outside, I was informed that a thief had been caught and taken to hospital after which I went to the police station to report the incident but was  instead arrested on arrival,” the accused told the court in his defence.