A state witness in a case where a female police officer is accused of killing her husband recounted before the Eldoret High Court how she had frantically tried to convince her colleague to quit her abusive marriage.
Police Constable Noela Cheruiyot testifying before Eldoret High Court judge Justice Reuben Nyakundi said she had attempted to convince her colleague, Lilian Biwott, who she said was her close friend, to terminate the relationship with her abusive husband a few days before she (accused) was linked to his killing.
She informed the court that the accused had confided in her about the tribulations she was going through in her marriage.
Biwott 32, and a mother of four, is said to have shot her late husband Edwin Kipchumba 12 times in their Kumumu estate rental house following family differences.
She narrated how the accused would come to her police line house to change into her official attire before reporting for night shift duties at the Kenya Bureau of Standards Eldoret branch.
Ms. Cheruiyot sa
id that although Biwott was secretive in matters related to her private life, she opened up to her about her toxic relationship and how she had tried to seek help from family members and church elders to no avail.
She said it was at that point that she advised the accused to seek separation from her abusive husband, instead of persevering in the marriage characterized by frequent quarrels and fights.
She said she had even promised to surrender her police line house to her colleague so that she could occupy it with her four school-going children.
‘My colleague and close friend told me her husband was abusing her to the extent of accusing her of infidelity and threatening to kill her although she was faithful to him,’ narrated Cheruiyot.
Biwott is charged with killing her spouse on October 14, 2023, at Kimumu estate, along the Eldoret-Iten road in Uasin Gishu County.
The accused, who denied the murder charges is currently held at Eldoret Women GK remand prison after being denied bond on security grounds.
Another Police Officer, Bernard Ouma attached to Turbo police station narrated how the accused surrendered to the police after killing her husband without the killer weapon.
‘When we interrogated her about the whereabouts of the riffle, she had signed for the night duty, she accepted to take us to where she had hidden it in a bush, some few metres from the police station,’ said Ouma, who was the officer in charge of the armoury.
Justice Nyakunid adjourned the case until March 10th and 11th for further hearing.
Source: Kenya News Agency