Three suspects linked to the gruesome murder of a couple from Nyamakotoro in Nyamira between the 20th and 21st March 2023, were arraigned before Nyamira High Court and charged with murder.
The trio, Peris Ondara, Dennis Ondara and Peter Njoroge, were arraigned before Judge Winfrida Okwany and pleaded not guilty to murder charges levelled against them.
Irate citizens who were baying for their blood flocked the Court premises. The Court ordered they be remanded in Kisii GK Prison till the 30th of May 2023, when the case will be mentioned and determined on whether they be guaranteed bail and bond.
Requests by the lawyer of the accused to have his clients detained in Sotik or Kericho Prisons due to security concerns and threats of harm from the community members, were declined.
Justice Okwany cited a lack of evidence substantiating the claims that the accused individuals’ lives were in immediate danger.
Four suspects have so far been arrested and arraigned in court and their cases will be consolidated when hearing will commence.
One of the suspects, Denis Ondara, was arrested, Friday last week at the Isebania border en route to Tanzania to escape arrest but was nabbed by Director of Criminal Investigating (DCI) officers who had posed as hawkers after he escaped their trap net at Ruai in Nairobi where he had been hiding.
Residents of Egeturi Village in Nyamakoroto, Nyamira County woke up to a rude shock on the 21st of March 2023, when Edward Morema, 62, who had just arrived from the USA and his wife, Grace Mongína, were found dead in their residence.
The DCI has been investigating the homicide incident and tracking leads of the suspects’ hideouts where four have already been nabbed and presented before the court for trial.
