On the evening of October 29, 2021, neighbours of self proclaimed prophet Boniface Ekwara saw him beating his wife Esther Chemutai.
Eight days later, Chemutai was found dead and her body laid on a mattress in their house at Mabonde in Kiminini, Trans Nzoia county.
Ekwara was arrested for the murder although he denied killing his wife.
He told the court that on the fateful evening, he came home and found his wife had not cooked anything and she was drunk.
This led to the fight witnessed by their neighbours, an incident he said was the first time he was physically violent towards her.
He told the court that after the fight, they did not share a room and he was surprised to learn that his wife was dead.
Postmortem established that Chemutai died of strangulation. She had fractured her cricoid cartilage (found in the airway).
Ekwara, however, blamed the death on alcohol.
On the night of the incident, one of the neighbours, Michael Khisa, was at his house which borders Ekwara's homestead and heard noises.
Since it was raining, he waited until it subsided and went to enquire about what was happening.
To his shock, Khisa found Ekwara and a naked Chemutai fighting.
His pleas for Ekwara to stop hitting his wife caught the attention of another neighbour, Naomi Waithera.
The presence of the two did not, however, faze Ekwara who continued with the assault.
He hit his wife with a broom on the chest and abdomen and kicked her.
The two told the court that they also heard him say he was going to kill her.
Chemutai pleaded with her husband to forgive her but he would hear none of it.
He is said to have then locked the door prompting the neighbours to leave.
Khisa testified that he did not see Chemutai in the days between October 30 and November 5, 2021.
Waithera saw the woman on October 30, brewing alcohol for sale.
On November 1, she also saw Chemutai at around 1pm lying outside her house with her face covered.
Waithera said she assumed Chemutai may have been under the influence of alcohol and had passed out.
At 8pm, Chemutai was still out there. That was the last time the neighbour saw her.
Four days later, Waithera noticed there was a swarm of flies and a foul smell emanating from Ekwara's house.
She shared her concerns with Khisa and they both reported the matter to Nyumba Kumi and village elders.
The report was also made to Waumini police station within the locality.
When the elders and two police officers went to investigate, they discovered Chemutai's body on a mattress on the floor.
Upon hearing the news, angry residents attacked Ekwara but he was rescued by police and taken to Kitale County Referral Hospital where he was admitted for three days.
He was then booked at Kitale police station.
Chemutai had bruises on her face which the doctor who performed the autopsy said were either caused by a blunt object or a small sharp object.
Her body was 20 per cent decomposed by the time it was discovered.
The prosecution called six witnesses whose evidence convinced the court that Ekwera killed his wife.
Justice Anthony Mrima of Kitale High Court said even though there was no witness to the actual murder considering the couple did not have children, the facts that they lived together, alone, and Chemutai's remains were found decomposing inside the house that Ekwara would visit daily, was enough to tie him to the crime.
He also found that the man intended to kill his wife considering the strangulation and failure to report her death.
"The accused herein, Boniface Ekwara alias Nabii, is accordingly convicted of murder pursuant to Section 322(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code," Judge Mrima said while delivering judgement on August 3.