The Kisii High Court in September 2023 sentenced two brothers to life imprisonment for murdering their 70-year-old father, Chrisantus Ogechi Otwori.
The accused, Joseph Mogaka Ogechi and Cayus Magena Ogechi, were convicted after the court found them guilty of murdering their father at the family homestead in Raganga Sub-location.
According to evidence presented in court, Otwori had been embroiled in a land dispute with his sons for more than three years.
The prosecution said tensions escalated as the brothers demanded that their father subdivide the ancestral land and give them portions of the homestead.
Witnesses testified that the two brothers had openly complained that their father was taking too long to die, amid demands that he surrender portions of the disputed land.
On June 23, 2021, Otwori remained at home after his wife, Concepter Nyabangi Ogechi, and daughter, Mary Moraa Ogechi, left to work on a tea farm.
Mary returned at around 9 a.m. but could not find her father. She became suspicious after noticing that the stick normally used to secure the family borehole had been broken, leaving the opening exposed.
She tried to look for his father in the compound and nearby farm without success before seeking help from her uncle, Fidelis Orego.
A well-digger was called to inspect the borehole, where the family eventually spotted what appeared to be a human body at the bottom.
Police and the local administration were alerted. The body was retrieved from the borehole by well-digger Mark Obesi Ogari in the presence of police officers.
Investigators quickly ruled out the possibility of an accidental fall after finding the body upside down, with the head facing the bottom of the borehole. Otwori had also suffered severe head injuries.
The prosecution’s case was further strengthened by inconsistencies in the brothers’ accounts of their movements on the day of the killing.
A search of Joseph’s compound also uncovered a freshly disturbed patch of soil. Investigators recovered soil containing human blood, two torn shirt buttons, and clothing bearing bloodstains from inside his house. Police also recovered a heavy metallic bar with blood on it.
Cayus, meanwhile, claimed that he had travelled to Kisii Town early that morning for work and remained there until receiving a call from Joseph at around 11:30 a.m.
His account was contradicted by members of his own family, who testified that he had been at the homestead that morning. His workplace witness could only confirm his presence from about 8 a.m.
Blood-stained clothing was also recovered from Cayus’ house.
A post-mortem examination conducted by Dr Naomi Ariaga on June 25, 2021 revealed extensive injuries, including a 22-centimetre skull fracture, a broken jaw, multiple broken ribs, a bruised lung, a torn liver and extensive internal bleeding.
Government Analyst testing established that blood recovered from the disturbed soil, the metallic bar and clothing recovered from the brothers’ houses matched the DNA profile of their deceased father.
