Jacktone gets 50 years in jail for murder of LGBTQ activist Chiloba

Jacktone Odhiambo in court to be sentenced shortly for the murder of LGBTQ activist Edwin Kiptoo Chiloba/MATHEWS NDANYI

The High Court in Eldoret has sentenced freelance photographer Jacktonne Odhiambo, alias Lizer to serve 50 years in jail for the murder of LGBTQ activist Edwin Kiptoo Chiloba in Eldoret.

Justice Reuben Nyakundi termed the case aggregated homicide, and it was a murder that was premeditated, planned, and executed brutally.

He said the accused has shown no sincere or genuine remorse since the incident and that the accused deserved the death penalty, which was not however, implemented in Kenya.

He thus declined to issue a death penalty and said time had come for a clear recession to be made on the place of the death penalty.

Nyakundi said the evidence in the case favoured application of the death penalty and argued that liniency in such cases makes the judiciary a laughing stoke in the eyes of the public.

“I have looked at the matter and weighed all balances.and the middle ground between the death penalty and life imprisonment is that you serve 50 years in jail for this offence," said Nyakundi.

The judge said the nature and manner of killing the deceased were brutal because the accused inserted six pairs of socks in the throat and denied oxygen, culminating in the collapse of the deceased.

“The killing was premeditated and was with ill will and malice to the extent that the accused used money for the deceased to buy a metallic box, hired a vehicle to carry body and concealed evidence “The footprints to this crime are all traceable to the accused," said Nyakundi.

Before the judgment, Gaudensia Chelimo, who was a cousin to the deceased, asked the court for a death sentence or life imprisonment.

“Maybe that will appease the family, though it won’t bring our brother back," she said as she sobbed in court.

She said the family was devastated because Chiloba who was the only son in his family, had a bright future.

“He killed our son brutally, inserting three pairs of socks in his mouth, yet they were friends," said Gaudensia.

She said the deceased was the only son to his father and died before siring a child, and hence the entire generation in his lineage had been lost through the death.

“We were surprised to find him at the morgue, telling people that he was the only brother to the deceased. He was so shameless and used his money to buy clothes and women as our son was rotting at the morgue," she said.

Lawyer Mathai said the accused, at the age of 25, had been in remand prison for two years and proved he was able to transform and integrate with the community.

“There is no amount of punishment that will be good enough to return a lost life but at least there will be hope if a sentence is given as a deterrent," said Mathai.

He said Odhiambo’s family had shown signs of remorse by attempting to talk to the family of the deceased.

“My client pleads with the court that he has this chance to make right and seeks leniency, probably 20 years in jail," said Mathai.

However, state counsel Mark Mugun agreed with the family of the deceased for Odhiambo to serve a life sentence.

“We have heard that an entire family line is gone in that death, and that is very painful to the family of the deceased," said Mugun.

He said there had been proof of a clear plan to kill and dispose of the body of the deceased. Mugun said pushing three pairs of socks pushed into the mouth of the deceased was devastating as he fought for his life.

Mugun said Odhiambo was spitting on the deceased by using money and other things belonging to Chiloba after the killing.

“He was using the money belonging to the deceased to enjoy with women and eat well after killing his friend," said Mugun.

The state counsel further said the deceased’s body was stashed in a metallic box, which was dumped in a bush to rot. He said the accused never showed any remorse, as claimed by his lawyer.

“He cannot come at the last minute to say he is sorry or ready to transform when for two years he has not asked for forgiveness or even explained why he killed," Mugun said.

Two weeks ago, Justice Nyakundi had returned a guilty verdict against Odhiambo and said the prosecution had proved its case against him beyond reasonable doubt.

Nyakundi has issued a lengthy judgement in which he found that both scientific, direct, and witness evidence linked the accused to the murder.

The judge said forensic and DNA tests also showed that the two had an intimate relationship and were dear friends. Nyakundi noted that all important links connect the accused to the commission of the offense, and the judge noted that the actions of the accused were planned, calculated, and with malice aforethought.

Nyakundi said the prosecution had established beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was the last person seen with the deceased.

The judge went through a chronology of events during which the two were seen together at Tamasha Club from December 31, 2022, to January 3, 2023, when Chiloba’s body was found stashed in a large metal box and dumped along a road in the town.

Nyakundi said in his defense Odhiambo did not contrradict prosecution evidence or prove how else the deceased lost his life.

“I have looked at all evidence, including the last seen theory, forensic and DNA evidence, along with swabs taken, and concluded that you were directly placed at the scene of crime," said Nyakundi.

Nyakundi noted that there was enough evidence on how Odhiambo bought the matal box in which Chiloba”s body was found dumped.

The judge also cited expert evidence that proved that Odhiambo took Chiloba’s mobile phone and used the decesead’s M-Pesa account for several transactions, including paying for the metalic box.

Witnesses also saw the two heading to an apartment, where they lived in the same room as intimate partners.

“Witnesses also heard cries from the deceased at around 3am on the fateful night, and perhaps those were the last cries as he fought to save himself from your unlawful act," said Nyakundi.

Nyakundi said the scientific evidence had also proved that Odhiambo committed an unlawful sexual act on the deceased before the killing.

The judge had noted that the accused stashes pairs of socks in the mouth of the deceased to deny him oxygen and strangle him to death.

Witnesses who helped Odhiambo carry and dump Chiloba’s body had also testified in court.

The court noted that the deceased had defence injuries, meaning he tried to fight for his life but the accused did not let him live.

“He was a young man whom you stangled until he lost his life at the peak of his life. You were close friends, and you should have protected his life," said the judge.

The court did not find the motive of killing, but the judge said the manner of the killing proved that Odhiambo had aforethought malice and had deep hatred against the deceased.

The prosecution, which was led by state counsel Mark Mugun, had presented 22 witnesses against Odhiambo, after which Justice Reuben Nyakundi put the suspect on his defence saying he had a case to answer in connection with the murder.

Odhiambo, during his defense, used more than eight hours to defend himself, during which he denied being involved in the murder of Chiloba.

Chiloba was then a final-year student who was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in apparel fashion and design at the University of Eldoret.

Odhiambo denied killing Chiloba at an apartment in the Chebisaas area in Uasin Gishu County; his decomposing body was discovered dumped in a metallic box on January 3, 2023, along the busy Kipkenyo-Kaptinga road in Kapseret subcounty, 10 kilometres away from Eldoret town.