Serial killer Onyancha, two allies, charged

By Evelyn Kwamboka

Self-confessed serial killer Philip Onyancha and two of his alleged accomplices have been charged with murder.

The three were not required to take a plea to the charge that contained only one count, for lack of a lawyer to represent them.

The High Court in Nairobi ordered police not to conduct any further investigation in full glare of the media.

Onyancha, Tobias Nyabuhanga Arad and Douglas Obiero Makori were accused of murdering nine-year-old Anthony Njirwa Muiruri at Ngando village in Dagoretti last April 14.

It was Muiruri’s decomposed body found near the Lenana School, Nairobi a week ago that led to other murder discoveries in Nairobi, Thika, Naivasha and Nyeri.

High Court Judge Jessie Lesiit made it clear to the accused persons that since it was their first appearance in court, there was need for the charge to be read to them. The judge ordered that the three be held at Kilimani Police Station until June 29, for investigation to be completed.

Dressed in a red solemn robe and a wig, the judge said the three should be taken back to court on June 29 to take a plea. It is on this day that the court will also issue further directions regarding the case.

Police probe

The judge took issue with the police in the manner in which they have been investigating the case.

"This is out of record. Further investigation by the police should not be conducted in full glare of the media," Lesiit said.

Onyancha and his two alleged accomplices, who preferred to use Kiswahili in court, said they were not opposed to the prosecution’s application to have them detained at the police station.

The public got word that Onyancha was at the Nairobi Law Courts and jammed the compound to get a glimpse of the man who has been in the headlines.

"He does not look like he can kill, but I have stopped shaking strangers’ hands," said Eunice Achieng’.

In the investigation, Onyancha led police and journalists to various spots where he allegedly murdered women and children.

Those he claimed he murdered include Catherine Chelang’at, 32, who went missing on November 22, 2008, and whose decomposed body was found on the rooftop of the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company offices in Karen.

He has also confessed to killings of commercial sex workers Hellen Nyambura and Jackline Wambui, 25, whose bodies were found in lodging rooms at Rwambogo Bar and Restaurant and Suitable Bar in Thika.