[WKT]
Four people have been found guilty of murdering a man who advocated for safe circumcision.
The High Court in Kakamega found Joshua Anusu, Wycliffe Ruya, Oscar Aguninda, and Japhet Imbale guilty of killing Shadrack Jerusi at Girimani Village in Vihiga County.
Another accuser, David Musoga, died in March, and his case was terminated.
The four were jointly charged on September 2, 2015, and have now been put on defense after being found guilty.
“The investigating officer testified Mr. Jerusi was in a group advocating a Christian way of conducting circumcision, which collided with another that advocated a traditional way. The accused continually assaulted him (Jerusi) with stones and sticks, with the third accused lifting a heavy stone which he smashed on his head while the first accused uttered the words ‘finish him’,” Justice Patrick Otieno stated in his ruling.
“The court is in no doubt that the intention of the accused was to inflict grievous bodily harm, if not to outrightly kill Jerusi.”
The judge ordered the probation department to give the court a pre-sentencing report.
Among the witnesses in court was Jerusi’s son, Allan Andinga.
“I rushed to the scene and found one of the accused persons stoning him as he lay helplessly on the ground. Another one was beating him with a stick. The two chased me away with stones. I stood at a distance watching them kill my father with stones and machetes,” he said.
The accused, in their defense, claimed they were not at the scene of the murder and that they were each called by police to help carry Jerusi’s body to a police vehicle.
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