Nyeri court frees man accused of killing three nieces

The High Court has freed a 36-year-old man accused of killing his three nieces.

While acquitting Mr Andrew Sukunwa at the High Court in Nyeri on Wednesday, Justice Teresiah Matheka said that the court found that police did not investigate the murders.

PETROL

The court said except for the fact of death of the three children, the prosecution failed to prove it was Mr Sukunwa who locked up the children in their grandmother’s house, doused it with petrol and set it on fire.

Mr Sukunwa, a former security guard at Kenya Power Company, was accused of starting a house fire that burned to death the children aged between one and four years on March 16, 2016.

The bodies of the three girls were found in one corner of their grandmother’s house at Mathari village, Nyeri town Sub-County.

Justice Matheka said the police failed to apprehend the real culprit.

Evidence from the relatives of the children pointed an accusing finger to Mr Sukunwa due to his strained relationship with his in-laws after separating with his wife Josephine Wangechi.

QUARRELLED

The court also heard that Mr Sukunwa had quarrelled with the mother of the three children and had threatened his mother in-law.

But the court said that the evidence showed gaps in the prosecution of the case.

“It was for the prosecution to establish that this would be a basis for the accused person to kill his three nieces yet he had no grudge with their mother. Allegation of grudges between him and his parents-in-law were all hearsay,” stated Justice Matheka.

None of the parents-in-law testified or recorded a statement with the police.

The court found there was possibility of any other person, including the children, starting the fire.

NO EVIDENCE

“The fact that the children were left on their own and no evidence that flammables had been locked, away puts an open window to the possibility of another cause of the fire,” said Justice Matheka.

Investigating Officer Constable Ferdinand Kazungu testified that Mr Sukunwa had confessed to the police officer at the OB desk, a PC Mgandi, to having committed the crime.

But the court noted that the PC Mgandi neither recorded a statement nor did he testify in court.

Mr Sukunwa said he went to the police station because villagers had accused him of having killed the children.