- Only his bicycle and a piece of bar soap was recovered next to his body on the night of the incident.
- Oduor’s brother said the police have never been serious to investigate the killers.
Image: LAMECK BARAZA
Fredrick Oduor Baraza, a night guard, was murdered by unknown people at his place of work in Sega trading centre in Ugenya constituency on August 6, 2020.
The incident was reported at Ukwala police station under OB 18/06/2020.
The postmortem report which was conducted at Sega Mission Hospital on August 11, 2020, said that he died as a result of “severe head injury due to sharp penetrating wound.”
Only his bicycle and a piece of bar soap was recovered next to his body on the night of the incident.
His aging mother, Gaudencia Agutu Baraza, 83, said the soap was a promise to his young school children.
“I remember that his children had requested that he buys them soap for washing their school uniforms. He did not have money but still promised them to come back with soap the next morning,” Agutu said.
Agutu said his children were further heartbroken when they heard that the soap that they were waiting for had been found next to their father’s dead body.
At the time of his killing, his second wife was heavily pregnant with their fourth child. The child is now one and half years old.
The Star visited Oduor’s home in Ulanda village, Nyalenya sublocation, in Ugenya at the weekend.
Two girls were gathering mushrooms from a nearby farm as two other younger ones sat next to their mother, Elizabeth Adhiambo Baraza, 32.
Adhiambo was peeling raw cassava. That would be their meal after two days of starvation.
“Life has been tough since the passing on of my husband. This week, for example, we have been surviving on cassava and mushrooms," she said amid sobs.
"I do not have a job that can sustain us. My husband was everything here.”
Adhiambo said the prices of commodities have skyrocketed and they can hardly afford anything.
The deceased’s first-born son, David Ochieng’ Baraza, 16 (son of Oduor’s first wife) scored 271 marks in the just concluded KCPE exam.
Ochieng’ has since received an admission letter to join a secondary school in Meru county.
“I come from a very humble family. I do not know if I will go to Form 1. Meru is faraway and my grandmother does not have any money. I just don't know how my life is going to be,” Ochieng’ told the Star.
Ochieng’s mother disappeared into the thin air following the death of her husband. The boy has has now remained under the care of his old grandmother, Agutu and stepmother.
At some point Ochieng’ had to depart home to stay with his mother’s sister due to extreme poverty at home, reason why he sat his KCPE exam at Bar Olengo Primary School in Alego Usonga constituency.
The deceased was Agutu’s eighth child.
“At my age, he has left me the burden of these school children plus that of her younger wife. I equally need care. We just don’t know where our relief will come,” Agutu said.
Oduor’s brother, Vitalis Omondi Baraza, said the police have never been serious to investigate the killers.
“Word came that some people had been heard at Gem (Kodiaga) while subconsciously saying that they were the ones who had killed a night guard in Sega,” Omondi said.
Omondi further said he forwarded the information to the investigating officer at Ukwala police Station but the officer rubbished his claims.
“Instead of pursuing the criminals, he told me to go back and bring them to him," he said.
Omondi also said that justice has been elusive despite his brother’s family languishing in abject poverty.“We have not found justice for my brother. We hope that justice will be done.”
(edited by Amol Awuor)