Three to serve 30 years for luring man to his death

Wooden Judge's gavel [File]

Three people accused of luring a man to his death will serve 30 years in jail.

This is after the Court of Appeal in Kisumu confirmed their conviction over the 2013 incident that left Nyoniang’ village in Migori stunned.

The judgment by justices Asike Makhandia, Fatuma Sichale and Kantai ole Sankale, however, came as a relief for the three who had been slapped with the death sentence by a lower court.

Martin Ouma, Joseph Otieno and Lencer Anyango had been hoping to secure their freedom through an appeal and had maintained they were not responsible for the murder of Kevin Abich.

According to court documents, Abich had been in a relationship with Anyango but her brother, Otieno, was opposed to it.

During the hearing of the appeal, details of the gruesome murder of Abich resurfaced, with documents filed in court revealing his left hand had been cut off.

Geoffrey Onyango, a brother to the deceased, told the court that he accompanied Abich to meet his girlfriend and found her at home next to her brother’s house.

According to Onyango, Lencer ushered them into her Otieno’s house and shortly afterwards, the door was locked from outside before the three started assaulting them.

Onyango claimed he kicked the door open and ran home to inform his father of what had happened. 

When they came back, they found Abich lying in a tobacco farm with deep cuts. He had been killed and his hands severed as a crowd milled around him.

In their appeal, the three denied they were involved in the killing and faulted the trial court for convicting them of murder.

They had listed several grounds for their appeal and prayed that the court of appeal rules in their favour.

“The learned judge erred in law and in fact in passing a harsh and excessive sentence against the appellants,” they said.