A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after the High Court in Meru found him guilty of the 2015 killing of an Isiolo GK Prison officer.
According to reports, the body of the deceased was never recovered, bringing an end to one of Kenya’s most unusual homicide cases.
The court convicted the man of manslaughter after finding that forensic and circumstantial evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that Morris Munene Mate died as a result of an unlawful act despite the absence of his body.
Man sentenced for 10 years over prison officer’s death
Additionally, the court substituted the original murder charge with manslaughter before sentencing the man to 10 years’ imprisonment under Sections 202 and 205 of the Penal Code.
Reports indicate that the convict disappeared on July 23, 2015, after travelling to Oldonyiro in Isiolo North Sub-County for a business trip and was never seen alive again.
Detectives later recovered his blood-stained clothes together with a blood-stained stone at the Mlima wa Chui area, providing the first breakthrough in the investigation.
Additionally, subsequent DNA analysis confirmed that the blood recovered from the exhibits belonged to the missing prison officer.
On the other hand, forensic examination of mobile phone records placed the convict in constant communication with Mate and in the same geographical location shortly before his disappearance.
