A High Court in Meru continued to hear how Isiolo human rights activist Elizabeth Ekaru was killed.
Two witnesses—a police officer and a doctor who conducted postmortem—were heard by Presiding judge Edward Murithi.
Vincent Mutua a DCI officer working in Isiolo tabled an investigation report and 20 photographs regarding the incident. Mutua was witness number 8.
Mutua said he received a call from a colleague about the incident on January 3, 2022.
"I first went to Kambi Gabra that is along Isiolo- Marsabit road. I took photos of the area where the accused was milled by residents who clobbered him for allegedly stabbing the deceased, I then took photos of the items in the bag he had carried," he said.
The police officer said he later found the knife the accused had allegedly used to stab the deceased. "The knife was blood stained and hidden in the thicket," he said.
He said from Kambi Gabra he went to Nomads area where the incident had occurred which was an open field.
There was a stone stained with blood, he said."I was shown where the deceased was picked unconscious, the ground was blood stained," he said.
He told court he also took pictures of the deceased when postmortem was being conducted. He said the in photos he took, the deceased had wounds in right arm and between the thumb and fore finger.
Dr Mohammed Abdikadir who did the postmortem, is a doctor at Isiolo General working as a medical officer and is also a surgeon.
He testified as Witness number 9.
He said he did postmortem on January 6, 2022 at St Teresa Mission Hospital in Kiirua.
He said the deceased was stained with blood due to the injuries inflicted in his body and the clothes she was wearing were blood stained.
The medic said the deceased had multiple body injuries. "She had an injury in her brain 10cm deep, had a cut 20cm in her thigh and on her right hand another wound," Abdukadir said.
He said Francis Ekaru the brother to the deceased was one of the witnesses when he performed the postmortem. Abdukadir said the injuries inflicted affected major blood vessels and caused a lot of bleeding leading to death. The vessels affected were in hands and legs.
The doctor said he took DNA samples and sent them to the Government Chemist. He said if one is cut in those blood vessels within 10 minutes he would die due to loss of blood.
Lead counsel in the defence of the activist Ekaru was Zainab Kombo while the accused Patrick Naweet was represented by Hillary Sandi.
The prosecutor Eric Masila told the court that two witnesses among them a government analyst and the investigating officer, are yet to testify. The hearing is expected to resume on September 18, 2023 where the court will hear two more witnesses.
