A primary school teacher has been charged with killing a Standard Eight girl and their 10-month-old daughter.
Eric Otieno Ooko of Gethsemane Primary School on Mfangano Island in Mbita was arraigned in Homa Bay High Court for murdering the pupil identified as Rihana Nafula and her baby, Evelyn Aoko.
He was charged with two counts in the case filed before Justice Joseph Karanja on Monday.
In the first count, Ooko was accused of murdering Rihana at Seka B village in Mbita between October 21 and 26, 2019.
In the second count, he was charged with murdering Evelyn at the same place and time.
The suspect allegedly defiled the 13-year-old girl last year, impregnating her in the process and the child born out of the defilement was being taken care of by the school as a vulnerable child.
According to an affidavit signed by the Department of Criminal Investigations officer in Mbita, Philip Sang, Ooko killed Rihana and buried her body in a shallow grave near his home.
He also strangled Rihana’s daughter to death and dumped her body in a bush within the village.
Residents discovered the bodies after tracing the source of foul smell that rent the air.
According to Sang, Ooko committed the offence to interfere with witnesses in a case he was facing in Mbita court for defiling the girl.
Sang indicated that the minor left her cousin’s house with her baby to attend an post-natal clinic in Sindo township on January 22 but she never returned. Nobody saw her after the departure.
This made the court withdraw the case due to lack of the key witness.
But before the case was withdrawn, Ooko was charged with conspiracy to interfere with witnesses.
He was to appear in court on April 11 but absconded the proceeding, leading to issuance of an arrest warrant.
Further, he disappeared from his home village after the bodies were discovered.
But DCI officials later arrested him in his hideout at Obunga Estate in Kisumu where he was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.
Justice Karanja denied him bail on prosecutor’s request but allowed the suspect to apply for bond at later stages of the case.
The case will be heard on April 6, 2020.
