A 40-year-old widow broke down and sobbed in an Eldoret court, when she recounted how she learned of her husband’s brutal killing.
The widow, Brossy Makimtigwa Ongeri could not hold back her tears as she narrated to the court how the news of the death of her husband, Ferdinand Ongeri aged 40, a Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) official in Kisumu reached her.
Mrs. Ongeri, who is also a nurse by profession, was overcome by emotions forcing the court clerk to calm her down before allowing her to proceed with her testimony.
Testifying before Presiding Judge Reuben Nyakundi, she recalled that she received the shocking news about her husband’s death, who was by then based at Riat Dispensary in Kisumu county moments after her efforts to reach him on phone failed.
“I tried to call him severally from our Nyamira county home, but he was not picking up although one of his cellphone lines was ringing without being answered, and another of his lines had been switched off, something which I had never experienced since we got married more than seven years ago,” narrated the widow.
The charge against the accused states that on an unknown date between 24th and 27th July 2019 at Kimondi Forest in Nandi County, jointly with others not before the court he murdered Ferdinand Ongeri.
Nurse Ferdinand Ongeri was reported missing on July 24th, 2019 from his workstation after successfully negotiating a promotion deal for nurses with the administration of Kisumu County Health department.
His decomposed body was later found by a herdsman dumped in the vast Kimondi forest in Nandi County after a fruitless search that had been conducted by his colleagues, friends, and family members.
According to the widow, the deceased was found naked, his throat was slit, the neck was broken, and there were bruises all over the body, adding that there was a cut on his mouth, which showed he was subjected to torture.
“On the fateful day, someone had updated information that a naked body of an unknown male, had been found in the forest and taken to Kapsabet mortuary and when we went there with my mother-in-law and other family members, we managed to identify my husband’s body,” said Mrs. Ongeri.
The mother to the slain nurse, Isabel Ongeri Ondiek, a retired nurse too, recalled the last moments she had with her son on phone and that he had promised to visit her in a week’s time.
“My son was in high spirits and jovial when I talked to him on phone, a week before he was reported missing, little did I know it was my last conversation with him,” narrated the mother.
By Kiptanui Cherono
