A man convicted of murdering a fellow resident at a busy Mamboleo junction in Kisumu County has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Justice Joe Omido of the High Court in Kisumu handed the sentence to Sebby Roy Oyugi after finding him guilty of the murder of David Omondi Haya in June 2021.
The judge also informed Oyugi that he had 14 days to appeal against both the conviction and the sentence.
The court heard that the killing took place on the evening of 3 June 2021 at Mamboleo Junction in Kisumu East Sub-County.
According to evidence presented during the trial, a mutura vendor, Jackline Akinyi, was selling food at the junction when a regular customer borrowed a silver kitchen knife from her stall.
Less than an hour later, he returned the knife after cleaning it. Shortly afterwards, she heard a customer at a nearby butchery say that the same knife had been used in a fatal attack.
Witnesses told the court that Oyugi was seen walking through the area while talking to himself in Dholuo.
He later returned carrying the knife, picked up a stone and chased Haya before stabbing him in the back.
One witness, Stephen Nyanjua Haggai, said he watched the incident unfold while taking tea at a nearby hotel.
Another witness, boda boda operator Levy Okech Okele, testified that moments before the attack, the accused had threatened to kill the deceased.
The court heard that after the stabbing, the attacker cleaned the knife, returned it to the mutura vendor’s stall and fled the scene. Haya collapsed and died from his injuries.
A post-mortem examination revealed that the stab wound had penetrated the chest cavity and damaged the left lung, causing severe bleeding.
The cause of death was determined to be blood loss resulting from the injury.
The accused remained on the run for nearly seven weeks before police received information that a murder suspect had been spotted in Homa Bay County.
On 20 July 2021, officers traced him to Sena, where he was working at a construction site, and arrested him.
In mitigation, Oyugi told the court that he had reformed while in custody, embraced Christianity and participated in rehabilitation programmes.
He expressed remorse and asked the court to consider a non-custodial sentence.
However, Justice Joe Omido ruled that the seriousness of the offence outweighed the mitigating factors.
“Sentencing is one of the most solemn responsibilities entrusted to a court of law,” the judge said.
He noted that the murder was preceded by threats, that the accused deliberately armed himself with a knife and pursued an unarmed victim who was attempting to flee.
“Mitigation must be weighed against the nature and gravity of the offence committed,” Justice Omido said.
The judge also criticised the accused for abandoning the victim after the attack and fleeing the area instead of seeking help.
While acknowledging the offender’s remorse and efforts at rehabilitation, the court found that those factors did not justify a lesser sentence.
Rejecting a request for a non-custodial sentence, Justice Omido said such a punishment would fail to reflect the gravity of the crime and would not meet the objectives of deterrence and justice.
He described the killing as one of the more aggravated murder cases to come before the court, citing the prior threats, deliberate acquisition of a weapon, pursuit of a fleeing victim and the loss of human life.
“Having carefully weighed all the circumstances of the case, this court is satisfied that a sentence of 50 years’ imprisonment is proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the degree of culpability exhibited by the accused,” he ruled.
The court ordered that the 1,444 days Oyugi spent in custody awaiting trial be deducted from his sentence.
The prosecution called nine witnesses during the trial.
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