Accused serial killer Phillip Onyancha has been acquitted in one of the 18 murder charges he was facing, 13 years after his conviction.
Onyancha, a self-confessed serial killer was accused of allegedly murdering Chepngetich Misoi in 2008 in Nairobi.
On Thursday, June 8, 2021, trial Judge Jesse Lesit set him free in one of the murder cases he was facing. Lesit stated in her ruling that the prosecution did not adduce sufficient evidence to warrant a conviction.
“All these are disheartening omissions – failure to investigate a stain on the deceased door captured by the crime scene investigator. Why would the police not follow this line of investigation?” judge Lesit questioned the investigation work by the police in her ruling.
The ruling further reads: “I am convinced that the deceased may have been murdered however there is no evidence that the accused was the author of her death,” the court ruled.
Onyancha who is also facing other murder charges was accused of killing Misoi on May 30, 2008.
But justice Lessit ruled that the prosecution did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Onyancha killed the deceased.
In his defence, Onyancha told the trial judge that Misoi committed suicide in her house.
In 2018, the High Court ordered a re-trial of Onyancha who was charged alongside Douglas Obiero and Tobias Nyabuhanga for killing 18 women.
Justice James Wakiaga made the order citing a mistrial after the court found out that there were grave procedural errors during the murder trial.
“Having pointed out the procedural errors on the record and the fact it was the prosecution which offered a defence of insanity without complying with Section 12 of the Criminal Code, I have come to the conclusion that there is a miscarriage of justice therein, hereby rendering the trial a nullity, which can only be cured by declaring a mistrial,” Justice Wakiaga ruled before ordering that the accused be tried afresh before another judge of the same court division.