By BOB WASWANI
April 10, 2026| A man who vanished from his Kapsabet village after his wife was found with a deep chest stab wound has been convicted of murder, with a judge dismissing his defence as nothing short of a “bull and cock story.”
Justice Joseph Karanjah of the High Court in Kapsabet found Josephat Asman Akhalukha, also known as Odipo, guilty of killing Hellen Chemasunde on the night of August 19–20, 2021, at Kirondo in Nandi East sub-county.
The couple lived together as husband and wife. On the fateful night, neighbours found Akhalukha standing over the severely intoxicated deceased, beating her with a black whip while she cried out in pain. Millicent Vugunza (PW1) and other neighbours restrained him and urged him to take the dispute home.
Instead, Akhalukha told them he was punishing his wife for getting drunk at the local market. He later took her to hospital with a neighbour’s help, but she died from her injuries.
A post-mortem report, produced in court by Dr. Emmanuel Kipleting (PW5), revealed that Chemasunde died from severe haemorrhagic shock due to a stab wound that cut through her chest cavity and sliced through the right aortic arch.
A long, sharp-pointed knife—the suspected murder weapon—was later recovered from the couple’s one-roomed house. By then, Akhalukha had fled the area. He was traced and arrested about one month later.
‘Bull and Cock Story’
In his defence, Akhalukha claimed that on the night in question, he was told by a man named Eric that the deceased was calling for him. He said he found her extremely intoxicated on the ground and began carrying her home, but an unknown person hit him with a whip, causing him to run away. He claimed he only learned of her death a month later.
Justice Karanjah was unimpressed.
“The allegation that he was hit with a whip by an unknown person as he was taking the deceased home was nothing short of a ‘bull and cock’ story,” the judge ruled.
The court noted that although no eyewitness saw Akhalukha deliver the fatal stab, the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming: he was seen assaulting the deceased, he was left alone with her, the murder weapon was found in his house, and he disappeared from the area immediately after the killing.
“All those factors pointed towards his criminal culpability for the death of the deceased and rendered his defence an afterthought,” the judgment reads.
‘Disappearance Demonstrated Guilt’
The judge further cited the 1980 case of Malowa vs. Republic, noting that a suspect’s flight from the scene of a crime is a clear demonstration of a guilty mind.
“The only logical conclusion that flows from the foregoing set of facts is that the accused stabbed the deceased using a dagger and thereafter fled to avoid capture until about a month later when he was brought to book,” the judge quoted the prosecution’s submissions with approval.
Finding that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, Justice Karanjah convicted Akhalukha of murder.
“This court is satisfied that the inculpatory facts are incompatible with the innocence of the accused and incapable of explanation by any other reasonable hypothesis than that of guilt,” the judge ruled.
What Happens Next
Akhalukha now faces a mandatory sentence of death under Section 204 of the Penal Code, although Kenyan courts have recently exercised discretion in murder sentencing following the 2017 Supreme Court decision that declared the mandatory death sentence unconstitutional. The judge may impose a term of years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty.
The court has ordered a pre-sentencing report, including a victim impact statement from the deceased’s family and a psychological evaluation of the convict. Sentencing is scheduled for a later date.
Akhalukha has the right to appeal the conviction within 14 days. If he files an appeal, the High Court judgment will be reviewed by the Court of Appeal in Kisumu.