Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Fashion model and LGBTQ activist Edwin Kiptoo alias Chiloba was sodomised before he was brutally killed, an Eldoret Court heard yesterday.

Principal Chemist Kweyu Lutta said an anal swab and samples taken from the victims’s underwear and trouser showed presence of the main suspect Jacktone Odhiambo’s sperm.

The Government Chemist told the presiding judge Reuben Nyakundi samples he received on January 11, 2023 among them finger nails taken from the key suspect placed him at the scene of the incident.

Lutta said another batch of samples he received included anal swabs from Chiloba’s body, clothes and socks that had been stuffed in his mouth and bed sheets from the house the deceased used to share with the suspect.

The court also heard that male DNA profile that was generated from the bed covers matched seminal fluids that were extracted from the prime suspect.

Genetic relation

“Samples that were taken from the vehicle Jacktone Odhiambo was driving on his way to dump the deceased’s body showed the presence of DNA of Edwin Kiptoo alias Chiloba,” revealed Lutta.

Lutta told the court that he was tasked with establishing the genetic relation of two sets of materials collected from the slain activist who was a final year University of Eldoret student in model and fashion and Odhiambo.

During the court session, Justice Nyakundi was forced to order that several items among them blood stained clothes, blood samples and swabs collected from the deceased body be displayed outside the court citing health grounds.

This was after the government expert brought to the attention of the packed court that it would not be convenient to display the items in the closed court.

Your lordships, some of the items collected from the deceased’s body are not in good condition and have a foul smell. I advise that they be displayed in open court,” stated Lutta.

Prime suspect

The Judge directed that anyone who wants to participate in the open court proceedings must wear a face mask for the sake of their health.

 Lawyer Maathai Maina, who is representing the prime suspect, had demanded for the display of the items before cross-examining the government expert in regards to the evidence he gave linking his client to the murder of Chiloba.

The government expert was testifying in a case in which Odhiambo has denied killing his lover, Chiloba between December 31, 2023 and January 3, 2024.

The murder is said to have taken place at Noble Breeze apartment a few metres from the University of Eldoret where the couple lived.

The deceased’s partially decomposed body was recovered in a metallic box dumped on the outskirts of Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu county.

More than ten state witnesses among them Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor, a data analyst, a massage therapist and a forensic expert have so far given their testimonies.

According to State prosecutor in the matter Mark Mugun, only three witnesses remain, before the case is closed.

The judge adjourned the hearing of the case to June 3, 2024.