Domestic violence cases have been on the rise in the country with many leading headlines resulting in death of one of the spouses. Waking up on 16th March 2014, Faith Chepngeno Kirui didn’t know it yet but she would have been the victim of one such fateful crime.
The case of the death was finally wrapped up on Thursday by Kericho High Court Judge Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi ruled that there was sufficient evidence proving the accused committed the offence. The accused husband, one 46-year-old Wilberforce Kirui charged with murder through asphyxiation was found guilty of killing his wife and is set to serve a life sentence.
On the fateful night, the two are believed to have engaged in a quarrel at their home in Kabitungu village in Bureti sub-county, Kericho after arriving from church. the argument is believed to have ensued in the evening when Wilberforce prevented his late wife from leaving for Chelal factory where she worked as a casual worker. Faith in turn had refused to cook dinner prompting her three children to take up the task.
It was the accused brother’s wife who had found the lifeless body of the late Mrs Kirui lying on her matrimonial bed when she had gone to check on the couple the next morning. Kirui was not at home at that time. Kirui surrendered to police on March 21, 2014, four days after his wife’s death.
He claimed that he fought with his wife on the night but later left and did not know the details of her injuries until the next morning when he got information about her demise from his relatives.Mr Kirui pleaded not guilty on March 27, 2014 and was released on a bond of Sh300,000 with one surety of a similar amount . A post mortem performed on the late Mrs Kirui at Kapkatet district hospital revealed that the cause of death as hypoxia by asphyxiation, crushed larynx.
In mitigation, the accused pleaded for leniency saying he was the only parent and breadwinner of his three teenage children who are currently under the care of his elderly father.The court gave the accused 14 days to file an appeal.