An investigating officer has told a Kisii Court that baby Junior Sagini’s eyes were gouged out by the three accused persons in the case namely Rael Mayaka (grandmother), Pacificah Nyakerario (aunt), and Alex Ochogo (cousin).
The officer who gave his evidence in camera at the Kisii Law Courts appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Christine Ogweno.
He told the court that after the three committed the atrocious act at an unknown time between December 13 and 14 of 2022, Nyakerario immediately left for Nairobi where she was arrested by DCI officers and escorted back to Kisii.
The court heard that details obtained from Safaricom revealed that Nyakerario was at home when the three-year-old boy was attacked and after the child’s disappearance, she traveled to Nairobi.
The officer said that he interrogated a witness (Ochogo’s girlfriend) who revealed that she heard movements outside the house on that fateful day and went out where she managed to see the suspects putting the child in a sack and leaving it inside a farm.
He further said the witness stated that on the day baby Sagini was found inside a maize plantation, Ochogo had blood on his face and when she questioned him, he turned violent forcing her to flee to her parent’s home.
Last week, the witness told the court in a special hearing held at the scene of the crime in Ikuruma village, Marani Sub County that Sagini’s cousin, Ochogo, had committed the heinous act and there were frantic efforts by those involved to conceal the crime.
The woman who is currently under witness protection testified that on that fateful day, Ochogo returned home drunk and left with a knife with which he attacked Sagini before wrapping the minor in a sack and dumping him in a maize farm.
The three suspects who are facing a charge of causing grievous harm to baby Sagini have pleaded not guilty to the offense.
The case is set to resume on April 6, 2023 for a ruling on whether the trio have a case to answer.
On March 11, 2023, Sagini who is currently under state protection together with his sister Shantel Kemunto told a Kisii Court in a virtual hearing that his grandmother, Rael Mayaka, gouged his eyes out.
By Mercy Osongo
