Collins Okoth’s case: Mother of murdered girl gives grim account of what transpired
Beatrice Awuor Odongo, mother of the late 3-year-old girl killed in April 2024 in the Lucky Summer area, told the court that she had no relationship with the former Kenyan footballer Collins Okoth, famously known as Gattuso.
Appearing before Justice Alexander Muteti at the Milimani High Court, Awuor told the court that they lived in the same plot, but she was not engaged in any romantic affair or friendship with Collins Okoth.
“The first accused, Collins Okoth, was my neighbour, we lived in the same plot and same second floor, but I did not know him well. We only met sometimes on the stairs and would greet each other,” Awuor told the court.
However, it emerged that Collins Okoth was eyeing Beatrice Awuor’s friend, with whom they lived together. She narrated that her friend, Sylvia Aoko, intimated to her that Collins Okoth had made some romantic advances.
Despite her friend’s admission, Awuor told the court she did not at any time find Collins in the house they shared with Sylvia, and he also did not have any relationship or interact with her deceased daughter.
On her relationship with Sylvia, she said that they had known each other back in 2011 while in school and after they completed school, fate had them meet again in Nairobi.
She then hosted Sylvia for a year in her house before she travelled abroad. She later came back to Kenya, and she again hosted her until she got her own house.
Further, she told the court that they had no issues and they had a good relationship, apart from normal scuffles, which they would let slide.
Awuor later had disagreements with his then-husband, Alex Wanga, and Sylvia agreed to host her with her daughter.
Okoth further disclosed that Sylvia started demanding repayment of Ksh15,000 she had lent her before moving into her house. She borrowed the money after Sylvia returned from Saudi Arabia.
“I promised to pay her money over time since I was the one working and paying all the house bills since Sylvia was not working, and I could not manage to do the payment and pay bills,” Awuor told the court.
On a Saturday, one week before the baby was killed, Awuor informed the court that they quarrelled over the payment of the money, and Sylvia left angrily.
However, she did not tell her where she was going.
Hostility crept in
Sylvia later returned home, but their relationship with Awuor went sour. Awuor said Sylvia became more hostile to her daughter.
In a gripping testimony, Awuor narrated how she left her daughter sleeping at 1 am, on the night of April 21, 2024, to sell Kahawa and sim-sim.
She told the court that after taking supper, she dressed her daughter warmly and put her in bed before preparing the Kahawa to go and sell as usual.
At around 4 am in the morning on April 22, 2024, she returned home only to find the gate open, yet she had locked it when she left.
Worried, she rushed to her house only to find the door wide open and her daughters’ clothes that she was wearing scattered on the floor.
She told the court that she had dressed the deceased in dark blue tights with white polka dots and some yellow, white, and red panties; a maroon full neck, Pampers, and white socks, which were presented to court as exhibits.
Engulfed in pain, Awuor wailed uncontrollably, asking where her baby was. She then proceeded to her baby daddy in Huruma in search of her.
She stated that she suspected the former husband was the only one who could steal her daughter, even though he did not know her house.
Brian, caretaker at her place of residence in Lucky Summer, later called her while she was still at her baby daddy’s place, informing her that the daughter had been found.
However, by the time she was back, her baby’s body had already been picked up by Lucky Summer Police post officers in her absence. She went to the police station, where she found baby daddy in the police van.
On the same day the baby was found dead, Awuor told court that the caretaker informed the police that he had discovered a knife in the first suspect’s window, which he suspected was used to break the padlock holder for easy access to the house.
He was then instructed to take a video of the knife while still at the window and take the video to the police station, which he did.
Awuor was later arrested and, together with Sylvia, they were taken to Ruaraka Police station, where they were questioned and put in cells.
The following day, they were arraigned at the Makadara Law Courts, where the court detained them for 21 days as requested by the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in a miscellaneous application.
Missed daughter’s burial
In a heartbreaking voice, Awuor informed that while detained, her father’s daughter proceeded with postmortem procedures and burial at his rural home without informing her.
“I did not attend my daughter’s postmortem even though I had been promised that I will be availed during the procedure. I did not even attend her burial,” Awuor told the court.
She informed the court that, she learned about her daughter’s burial through her friend while still detained, when she visited and showed her photos of her burial published on social media.
