At the Eldoret High Court, a state witness in the case where a female police officer is accused of killing her husband recounted how she frantically tried to persuade her colleague to end her abusive marriage.
Testifying before Justice Reuben Nyakundi, Eldoret High Court judge, Police Constable Cheruiyot revealed that she had attempted to convince her close friend and colleague, Lillian Biwott, to end her relationship with her abusive husband just days before Biwott was implicated in his killing.
She informed the court that the accused had confided in her about the hardships she was facing in her marriage.
Biwott, 32, is alleged to have shot her late husband, Edwin Kipchumba, 12 times in their Kimumu estate rental house following family differences.
The mother of four faces charges of killing Kipchumba on October 14, 2023, at Kimumu estate along the Eldoret-Iten road in Uasin Gishu County.
Cheruiyot described how the accused used to come to her police line house to change into her official attire before heading to the Kenya Bureau of Standards Eldoret branch for night shift duties.
The State witness disclosed that despite Biwott being secretive about her private life, she confided in her about the toxic relationship and her unsuccessful attempts to seek help from family members and church elders.
At that juncture, Cheruiyot advised the accused to pursue separation from her abusive husband instead of enduring a marriage marked by frequent quarrels and fights. She even promised to surrender her police line house to her colleague so that Biwott could occupy it with her four school-going children.
“My colleague and close friend told me her husband was abusing her to the extent of accusing her of infidelity and threatening to kill her although she was faithful to him,” said Cheruiyot.
Another police officer, Bernard Ouma, attached to Turbo police station, recounted how the accused turned herself in to the police after the killing of her husband, although the weapon used was not surrendered.
“When we interrogated her about the whereabouts of the riffle, she had signed for the night duty, she accepted to take us to where she had hidden it in a bush, some few metres from the police station,” said Ouma, who was the officer in charge of the armoury.
The accused, who denied the murder charges, is currently detained at Eldoret Women GK remand prison after being denied bail on security grounds.
Justice Nyakundi adjourned the case for further hearing until March 10th and 11th.
