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- Dec 11, 2011
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Serial Killer Acquitted:
Phillip Onyancha, who confessed to killing 17 people in 2010, has been acquitted of a murder charge by High Court.
Onyancha led police to different towns where he committed heinous acts, decomposing bodies were found.
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A suspected serial killer facing three murder charges has been acquitted in one case for lack of evidence.
The trial judge Jessie Lessit ruled that there was no evidence to prove that Philip Onyancha killed Jacqueline Chepngetich Misoi.
The court had been told that Onyancha committed the said offence at the Mount Kenya building along Kombo Munyiri Road in Nairobi on May 30, 2008.
"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 judge said. Lessit poked holes into pieces of evidence that the prosecution relied on, noting that the state failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Onyancha killed Jacqueline.
"All these are disheartening omissions the ones being 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?" she added.
Onyancha was also accused of killing Catherine Chelangat at Karen on November 22, 2008.
Onyancha and co-accused Tobias Nyabuhanga Aradi and Douglas Obiero Makori faced charges relating to the alleged murder of 14-year-old Anthony Njirwa Muiruri in Dagoretti.
He denied all the murder charges when he appeared before lady justice Lessit in 2014.
When he was arrested in 2010, Onyancha, who was 32 then, confessed to being a cult leader and had killed 17 people, mainly women.
He said he was recruited into a cult while at school by a teacher, who told him to kill 100 people and drink their blood for good fortune.
"My target was to kill 100 women. I managed 17 and there were 83 to go," he told Daily Nation then.
During the probe, Onyancha led the police to lodges, where he admitted to killing several women then suck their blood.
Mistrial In 2018, the High Court declared the case against Onyancha a mistrial.
Justice James Wakiaga ordered a fresh hearing in the case in which the suspect had been charged with the three counts of murder.
The court heard that the accused was mentally ill at the time of committing the offences.
Source: Philip Onyancha: Man who confessed to killing 17 acquitted in one murder case
Phillip Onyancha, who confessed to killing 17 people in 2010, has been acquitted of a murder charge by High Court.
Onyancha led police to different towns where he committed heinous acts, decomposing bodies were found.
--
A suspected serial killer facing three murder charges has been acquitted in one case for lack of evidence.
The trial judge Jessie Lessit ruled that there was no evidence to prove that Philip Onyancha killed Jacqueline Chepngetich Misoi.
The court had been told that Onyancha committed the said offence at the Mount Kenya building along Kombo Munyiri Road in Nairobi on May 30, 2008.
"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 judge said. Lessit poked holes into pieces of evidence that the prosecution relied on, noting that the state failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Onyancha killed Jacqueline.
"All these are disheartening omissions the ones being 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?" she added.
Onyancha was also accused of killing Catherine Chelangat at Karen on November 22, 2008.
Onyancha and co-accused Tobias Nyabuhanga Aradi and Douglas Obiero Makori faced charges relating to the alleged murder of 14-year-old Anthony Njirwa Muiruri in Dagoretti.
He denied all the murder charges when he appeared before lady justice Lessit in 2014.
When he was arrested in 2010, Onyancha, who was 32 then, confessed to being a cult leader and had killed 17 people, mainly women.
He said he was recruited into a cult while at school by a teacher, who told him to kill 100 people and drink their blood for good fortune.
"My target was to kill 100 women. I managed 17 and there were 83 to go," he told Daily Nation then.
During the probe, Onyancha led the police to lodges, where he admitted to killing several women then suck their blood.
Mistrial In 2018, the High Court declared the case against Onyancha a mistrial.
Justice James Wakiaga ordered a fresh hearing in the case in which the suspect had been charged with the three counts of murder.
The court heard that the accused was mentally ill at the time of committing the offences.
Source: Philip Onyancha: Man who confessed to killing 17 acquitted in one murder case
