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An Eldoret court yesterday heard how the key suspect in the murder of LGBTQ activist Edwin Kiptoo alias Chiloba hired three youths to help him dispose of the decomposed body of the deceased from a one-bedroomed house they were sharing as a couple.

Alex Nyamweya, the caretaker of an apartment where the slain University of Eldoret final year Interior Design student was staying, told the court that the suspect, Jacktone Odhiambo and the deceased were living in the apartment as wife and husband.

He told Justice Reuben Nyakundi that when he asked the accused to explain to him where the foul smell from their apartment was coming from, he told him that it was from a dead rat.

This was after the accused told him that they were planning to move out of the apartment with the deceased and relocate to more spacious one because the one they were staying in was small.

“I came to learn later on that the dead rat he was referring to me about was the deceased’s decomposed body that he was planning to ferry from the apartment,” said Nyamweya.

According to the witness, Odhiambo, 24, carried the metal box that ferried Chiloba’s body to the car with the help of two youths aged between 17 and 19 years.

He was testifying in a case where Odhiambo is accused of killing the gay activist between December 31, 2022 and January 3, 2023.

Odhiambo is accused of committing the offence at Noble Breeze apartment in Chebisas area on the outskirts of Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu county. He has been remanded at the Eldoret GK remand prison since his arrest by police.

Chiloba’s decomposed body was found stashed in a metal box on the roadside on the Kipkenyo-Kaptinga road in Kapseret sub-county in Uasin Gishu county.

Another witness also recounted how the accused paid him for his services via M-Pesa.
Francis Were, a taxi driver stated that he hired out a Toyota fielder car registration KCL 229L to Odhiambo, who was well known to him as he was his childhood friend.

Metal box

Were recounted that Odhiambo had asked to hire the car on January 3 this year, claiming that he had a church function to attend to.

The witness said that on reaching an agreement that he would hire out the vehicle for Sh3,500, Odhiambo paid him through M-Pesa.

“The M-Pesa message showed that Edwin Kiptoo had sent the cash and I joked with Odhiambo asking him if he had changed his ethnicity. He told me that he had bought a new SIM card and registered it using a friend’s Identity card,” he explained.

Were, however, recounted that when Odhiambo returned the vehicle, it was stinking and he promised to pay his car wash charges.

“I asked about the foul smell and the accused answered that he had carried fish in the car which caused the bad smell,” Were disclosed. He said that he was shocked when he was later trailed by police officers on allegations of helping out in a murder incident.

Another witness, Obadiah Ochieng’ who operates a workshop in the outskirts of Eldoret town recounted one morning when the accused visited his workplace in search of a metal box.

Ochieng’ said that he showed Odhiambo his wares but he insisted that he wanted a larger box.

He told the court that he then took his client to a nearby workshop that distributed some of his wares.
“Odhiambo pointed at the biggest box. The box was painted dark green. I am the one who had made the box and sold it to him at Sh7,500,” narrated Ochieng’.

Like in Were’s case, Ochieng’ said that the accused paid him via Mpesa.

Ochieng’ recounted that after selling the box to his client, he helped him load the box into a car the accused was driving.

The court also issued a warrant of arrest against Were’s employer Maureen Nabwire whose vehicle is believed to have been used to ferry Chiloba’s body.

Justice Reuben Nyakundi gave the directions after the Prosecutor Mark Mugun pointed out that Nabwire has been ignoring court summons to appear in court and produce the car as exhibit in the case.