A Homa Bay man who was part of a plot to kill a woman and her disabled child to get insurance for their death, has been found guilty for the murder of the child.
Moses Omondi Sumba was found guilty alongside his accomplice Kevin Ogot for the murder of Janevive Adienge on February 25 last year.
Justice Waweru Kiarie Waweru found that Sumba was involved in the scheme to kill Joyce Adhiambo and her now deceased daughter so that her uncle Lucas Odhiambo Okello could get the insurance.
“It would appear that this was a cleverly planned scheme to eliminate both the deceased and her mother for the benefit ultimately of Lucas Odhiambo. I make a finding that the two accused persons were in the plot in spite of their protestation,” the court ruled.
However, the uncle who is said to have also been part of the said plot was never charged and the court did not recommend his prosecution for the death of Adienge.
In her testimony to court, the mother said Sumba who is her relative invited her to the Homa Bay County Referral Hospital in July 2020 and promised her assistance for her disabled daughter.
He informed her that some help was going to come from a non-governmental organization for her daughter.
The court heard that previously, Okello who is Adhiambo’s maternal uncle had collected her child’s birth certificate, her KRA PIN and a copy of her identity card and informed her that he was taking them to an NGONoffice.
But it emerged that Okello had taken a policy in 2020 where he was the beneficiary in the event Adhiambo and her daughter passed on.
On the said day, Adhiambo says she was called by Ogot and went to meet him and later they went back to her home together.
He gave her some forms to fill including the details of the child, her name and that of her husband saying they were needed to facilitated the assistance.
He then gave some oral medicine to her late daughter using a syringe and the child started to convulse.
The accused then left running but she raised an alarm and members of public managed to arrest him.
In his judgement, Justice Waweru said the prosecution had proved the offense of murder against both the accused persons.
He ruled that even though the evidence against Sumba was circumstantial, the evidence shows that he was involved in the scheme since 2020.
The court said the inculpatory facts are incompatible with his innocence, and incapable of an explanation upon any other reasonable hypothesis than that he was involved in the plot knowingly
In his defence, Ogot had claimed that he was a boda boda rider and on that day he was given some items by Lucas to take to his relative and once he delivered them he heard screams and was arrested for murder.
Judge Waweru dismissed his defence saying two witnesses placed him at the scene and both saw him with a syringe.
The court equally dismissed Sumba’s alibi that he was admitted in hospital on the day of the murder noting that the hospital receipts he produced were interfered with where the dates appeared.