Court orders suspect in murder of lecturer to undergo DNA test
Ms Irene Jepchumba, who was a lecturer at the Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology in Nakuru County. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Police wants samples of Mr Godfrey Kangogo extracted for DNA test.
The prosecution is seeking to establish if there was rape before the murder of Ms Irene Jepchumba.
She was in the company of the suspect who claimed that she fell off the cliff at Choka Falls.
The High Court in Nakuru has ordered for DNA test to be conducted on a man charged with the murder of lecturer.
Justice Joel Ngugi on Thursday allowed an application by police to have samples of Mr Godfrey Kangogo extracted for DNA test.
BIOLOGICAL ACCESS
In the application, the investigating officer, Mr John Gitau had sought to obtain blood, saliva, pubic hair and finger nails from Mr Kangogo for the purposes of investigations, to confirm whether there was biological access with the late Irene Jepchumba.
The prosecution informed the court that police needed to match the DNA samples of Mr Kangogo with that of Jepchumba to confirm if there was rape before pressing other criminal charges against the suspect.
Ms Jepchumba who was a lecturer at Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology (RVIST) college in Nakuru died on July 6, 2018. Her body was recovered from Molo River in Rongai Sub-County.
AUTOPSY
She was in the company of the suspect who claimed that she fell off the cliff at Choka Falls along Molo River while taking a selfie.
The autopsy conducted by government pathologist, Mr Titus Ngulungu indicated that she had been strangled to death.
Her family claimed that she could also have been raped before being murdered.
Justice Ngugi directed that Mr Kangogo appear at the Nakuru Level Five Hospital for his samples to be extracted for the test.
“The accused person is hereby directed to appear tomorrow (Friday) at the Nakuru Level Five hospital at 10am for his DNA samples to be taken for test,” ruled Justice Ngugi.
BODY EXHUMED
The judge also dismissed an application by Mr Kangogo seeking to have the body of Ms Jepchumba exhumed for the purpose of conducting another post mortem examination.
Mr Kangogo in his application filed through his lawyer David Mong’eri had challenged the report by the first pathologist whom he accused of having been compromised.
The court directed him to challenge the autopsy report in court instead of having the body exhumed.
The case resumes on October 23, 2018.
