The main suspect in the killing of LGBTQ activist Edwin Kiptoo alias Chiloba used his mobile number to make M-Pesa transactions that had a common thread to the killing and dumping of the body, the High Court in Eldoret heard Tuesday.
Jacktone Odhiambo, alias Lizer, made financial transactions that culminated in Chiloba’s killing but used Chiloba’s mobile wallet, the court heard from witnesses in the murder case.
Odhiambo is charged with killing Mr Chiloba between December 31, 2022, and January 3, 2023, at Noble Breeze Apartment in Chebisaas area within Moiben Sub County.
Chiloba’s body was found stuffed in a metal box along Kipkenyo-Kaptinga road in Mukombet village in Uasin Gishu County on January 4, 2023.
At the same time, Obadiah Ochieng, a blacksmith who sold the metallic box in which Chiloba’s body was discovered told Justice Reuben Nyakundi that the accused, who was well known to him, paid him through a mobile phone number belonging to the deceased.
Mr Ochieng who operates a workshop on the outskirts of Eldoret town recounted the morning Odhiambo visited his workplace in search of a metallic box.
Ochieng testified that he showed Mr Odhiambo his wares consisting of a variety of boxes to choose from, and he insisted that he wanted a larger metallic box.
Since Mr Ochieng did not have the size of box required by his client, he took him to a nearby workshop that distributed some of his wares. At the second workshop, Odhiambo pointed out one of the biggest metallic boxes on the shelf.
“Odhiambo pointed at the biggest box. The box was painted dark green. I am the one who made the box and sold it to him at Sh7,500,” Mr Ochieng’ told the court.
After the sale, he helped him load it onto the car that Odhiambo had driven in.
In other testimony before the court, the taxi driver who rented out the vehicle that was used to ferry Chiloba’s body said he was paid via M-Pesa for hiring out his vehicle to Mr Odhiambo for self-drive.
The late Edwin Chiloba.
Photo credit: Courtesy | Instagram
Francis Were told the court that he hired out a Toyota Fielder to Mr Odhiambo who was well known to him as he was his childhood friend.
He described Odhiambo as the well-known son of a local pastor in Eldoret town who asked to hire his car on January 3 this year, saying he had a church function to attend.
Mr Were told the court that they agreed on Sh3,500, which he paid through M-Pesa. He told the court that the M-Pesa transaction message for the payment showed that he had received Sh3,500 from the deceased, Edwin Kiptoo and not Mr Odhiambo as he had expected.
“The M-Pesa message indicated 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 national ID,” he clarified.
Mr Were added that when Mr Odhiambo returned the vehicle, it emitted a pungent smell, but Odhiambo promised to pay whatever a car washer would charge, adding that it came from fish that he had transported in the car.
The court heard that later on that Mr Were was arrested by police officers on allegations of being an accomplice in the murder of the LGBTQ activist.
The court has issued a warrant of arrest against Mr Were’s employer – Maureen Nabwire whose vehicle is believed to have been used to ferry the body.
The warrant of arrest orders came after State Counsel Mark Mugun pointed out that Ms Nabwire had been ignoring court summons to appear in court and produce the car as an exhibit in the matter.
During the Tuesday hearing, all the witnesses implicated the key suspect in the murder of Chiloba, claiming that he planned to ferry and dispose of the body of the 26-year-old fashion and design student at the University of Eldoret in January this year.
“This is a case of circumstantial evidence and we intend to bring 26 witnesses since all evidence links the suspect to the brutal killing of the slain university student and fashion model,” Mr Mugun told the court.
