The son of slain Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) acting Kilifi County Manager, Aisha Akinyi Abubakar Senge, has told the court how he pleaded with her killers to spare their lives during a harrowing night-time attack.
Mr Kassim Hassan, testifying before Mombasa High Court Judge Wendy Micheni, recounted how he begged the assailants to take everything they wanted, but his pleas were in vain.
“I told the attackers to steal whatever they wanted and leave us alone. Instead, they clobbered me before heading to my mother’s room, where they killed her, then disappeared into the darkness,” Mr Hassan told the court.
He was giving testimony on Monday, May 12, in the murder trial against Joseph Sunday Otieno, alias Brian Shikuku Mudari, and Bryan Templer Oyare. The two are charged with the murder of Aisha.
According to the charge sheet, the two jointly murdered her on January 5, 2025, at Utange Mkunguni in Kisauni, Mombasa.
Mr Hassan recounted the terrifying events of that fateful morning, stating that Otieno and Oyare stormed their home at around 3am, unleashing a few minutes of terror that ended in his mother's death.
He said a commotion woke him, and when he opened the door to investigate, two men armed with crude weapons barged into his room.
“One of the attackers ordered me to surrender my phone and all electronic gadgets, which I did. He asked for my M-Pesa PIN, which I gave, but since there was no money in my account, he hit me with a crowbar before leaving my room,” he said while being guided by Prosecution counsel Ngiri Wangui.
Mr Hassan said it was during the assault that he fell to his knees and pleaded with the assailants to take everything but spare their lives.
“As they walked away, I lifted my head and saw one of them. The lights along the corridor as you entered my room were on, so I could see their faces clearly. They hadn’t covered them. I saw one of the attackers glance back—and I recognised him,” he said, pointing to Oyare in court as the man he saw that night.
He said the attackers then proceeded to his mother’s room. They had switched off the lights in her mother’s room, and he could hear her breathing heavily.
“It was dark, but I could hear her struggling to breathe. I switched on the light and rushed to seek help from a neighbour. We first tried a nearby health facility, but it was closed. We returned and rushed her to Premier Hospital,” he testified.
On cross-examination, Mr Hassan clarified that both suspects entered his room, but Oyare demanded the phone and other items, while Otieno left without saying a word.
“I did not witness what happened to my mother. I only found her struggling to breathe after the attackers had left, and I switched on the light,” he said.
Mr Hassan, who sustained a severe head injury during the attack, managed to rush his mother to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Another son of the deceased, Mr Abubakar Hassan, told the court he was not living with his mother at the time but was informed of the attack around 3am.
“My mother and brother dropped me off at my place as they headed home. I was shocked to receive a call the next morning about the attack,” he said, adding that he had moved out of the family home in October the previous year.
Mr Abubakar told the court that his mother had confided in him that the position she held was highly contested.
“She didn’t say her life was in danger, but mentioned that the job came with certain risks,” he noted.
He further testified that his mother rarely hosted work colleagues or friends at her house and that only family members visited.
He also confirmed that she had no ongoing conflict with her ex-husband, despite previous issues that led to their separation.
“They had their differences before, but after the divorce, there was no hostility that I am aware of,” he said.
Mr Abubakar added that at the time of the incident, the family home was not guarded. Previously, 'Maasai' security guards had been stationed at the gate, but not on the night of the attack.
Otieno and Oyare remain in custody at Shimo La Tewa Prison after being denied bail, to allow key witnesses to testify without interference.
The suspects were arrested on January 13, eight days after allegedly breaking into Ms Senge’s home and fatally assaulting her.
Investigations revealed that the suspects had switched on the deceased’s mobile phone three days after the murder, which ultimately led to their arrest.
Police traced the signal using the phone’s unique identification number after Mr Otieno inserted his own SIM card into the stolen handset on January 8.
Officers tracked the signal to the Utange area in Kisauni, where they arrested Otieno and Oyare at 6:30 p.m. on January 13.
During the arrest, police recovered several items, including Ms Senge’s mobile phone, identification cards, SIM cards, birth certificates, and foreign currencies.
