He branded me a womaniser, says man accused of killing LGBTQ activist Chiloba
Jackton Odhiambo, the suspect in the killing of LGBTQ activist Edwin Kiprotich Kipruto alias Chiloba (inset), at Eldoret High Court in Uasin Gishu County on January 31, 2023.
What you need to know:
- Mr Odhiambo told the court that deceased was always angry whenever he saw him interacting with women and girls.
- The accused person dismissed claims to the effect that he was involved in a romantic relationship with the deceased.
Jacktone Odhiambo, the man charged with the brutal killing of LGBTQ activist Edwin Kiprotich, alias Chiloba, has told an Eldoret court that the deceased, who was his mutual friend, had branded him a womaniser.
Mr Odhiambo told the court that he lived with Chiloba in the same room while he was a student at the University of Eldoret, and that the deceased was always angry whenever he saw him interacting with women and girls.
"Chiloba used to accuse me of being a womaniser and questioned why I loved to interact with ladies. He was short-tempered and furious, leading to an argument in our apartment room," he told Justice Reuben Nyakundi during the defence hearing on Tuesday.
Mr Odhiambo, who has denied killing Chiloba, told the court that he fell unconscious upon learning about his brutal murder through social media.
The accused person dismissed claims to the effect that he was involved in a romantic relationship with the deceased, whose mutilated body was discovered stuffed in a metallic box and dumped along the Kipkenyo-Kaptinga road on the outskirts of Eldoret town on the morning of January 3, 2023.
"I never engaged sexually with Chiloba as claimed, but our relationship was a mutual friendship," Odhiambo said in court.
The late Chiloba was a final-year Apparel Fashion and Design student at the University of Eldoret.
Odhiambo further told the court that he received many messages of condolence from his friends after the murder of Chiloba, then aged 26, went viral in the media.
“The deceased was my friend who did not want to see me with women. He warned me on several occasions against having affairs with young women. When I received the news of his murder I fainted for more than an hour,” Mr Odhiambo told the court.
The prosecution told the court that the murder took place between December 31, 2022, and January 3, 2023, at Noble Breeze Apartments in the Chebisaas area in Moiben Sub County, Uasin Gishu County.
The two used to frequent social joints together and according to the accused, they would go out on drinking sprees in various nightclubs in Eldoret town until dawn.
Mr Odhiambo, who is the prime suspect in the case, told the court that before Chiloba was murdered, they had ushered in the New Year at Tamasha Club.
"We were both drunk and hailed a taxi to take us to our residential house in Chebisaas. I remember it was around 3am. The cab driver dropped us at the gate of our apartment and left," he told the court.
According to the accused, he left the house in the morning after a bitter argument with the deceased. He told the court that he left the door unlocked.
"We had a bitter argument with the deceased on the night of December 31, 2022. I left around 8am when he was still asleep and did not close the door," Mr Odhiambo said.
The accused also told the court that since he had lost his mobile phone, he decided to leave the deceased's mobile phone on the day he is said to have been killed in his apartment.
The defense hearing will continue on October 8 when Mr Odhiambo will present his key witness in court.
