A Kakamega court has acquitted a man accused of threatening
to kill his neighbour, citing critical gaps in the prosecution’s evidence.
Senior Principal Magistrate John Paul Nandi ruled that the
prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt on both counts of
threatening to kill.
“The prosecution bears the burden of proof, which proof is
beyond any reasonable doubt,” the magistrate observed.
“Where there is doubt of any kind in a criminal matter and
evidence which would likely advance the case of the prosecution is not adduced,
the effect of such an occurrence would go to the benefit of an accused person.”
The accused, Jackson Olenatie, had faced two counts for
allegedly uttering the words “Ntakuua” (I will kill you) on separate occasions
in January and March 2026 at Kehancha area, Kuria West subcounty.
The complainant, Rose Boke, testified that on January 5,
Olenatie came to her workplace armed with a panga, arrows, bow and nut,
threatening to kill her in the presence of customers.
Boke said the customers left in fear and she went with them,
but Olenatie shot an arrow at her and missed.
She kept the arrow before reporting to Kehancha police station
the following morning.
“On March 6 at 8pm, the accused came while armed with a
panga, nut, rod, sharpened on both sides, two knives and told her that he will
kill her and go to their home. She reported the matter to the police who
arrested the accused on March 7.”
She told the court she had no dispute with the accused but
suggested he may have been motivated by jealousy over her having more customers
as they engage in a similar business.
Olenatie prayed for forgiveness but denied the charges,
saying he did not commit the crime.
The court identified fatal flaws in the prosecution’s case,
including missing witnesses and a discrepancy between the charge sheet dates
and testimony.
On the first count, magistrate Nandi noted that while the
complainant mentioned a single arrow, the prosecution produced two arrows as
exhibits.
“The question to be asked is where they got the two arrows
when the complainant says an arrow, meaning one,” the judge stated.
While the complainant had named two customers, Oweingo and
Mwangi, who were present during the alleged incident, neither was called to
testify and no explanation was offered for their absence.
“This leads to the adverse inference that had they
testified, they would have given adverse evidence as against the prosecution
case,” the court held.
On the second count, the court found the charge sheet
specified the offence occurred on March 5, yet the evidence from both
prosecution witnesses referred only to events of March 7.
“Thus there is no evidence on record showing what happened
on March 5, 2026,” the magistrate ruled.
“This means that the prosecution has not tendered any
evidence showing that the accused threatened to kill the complainant on March
5, 2026.”
The investigating officer, police constable Lilian Opiyo,
had arrested and charged the accused on March 7, but her testimony could not
cure the evidentiary gaps.
Finding both counts unproven, the court acquitted Olenatie under section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
