Kapsoya children murder case postponed as testimonies turn emotional

A High Court in Eldoret was Wednesday forced to adjourn the hearing of a case on the murder of three children belonging to former Kapsoya MCA aspirant James Ratemo after witness accounts turned emotional.

Testifying before Judge Stephen Githinji, 9-year-old Ivy Kemunto triggered a teary moment in the courtroom as she narrated her last encounter with her now deceased friends.

She told the court that the alleged killer, Enock Onsase, a brother to Mr. Ratemo, waited for the three young and innocent boys outside their home as they were preparing to attend church service.

The children; Clifford Nyamwea, 6, Dan Nyamwea, 5, and 3-year-old Glen Ongaki were reported missing on May 13, 2017 after leaving their home for Eldovile SDA church in Kapsoya. Their badly mutilated bodies would later be found floating in River Nzoia.

According to Kemunto, she was going to pick her friends so that they would go to church together when she saw the suspect outside Mr. Ratemo’s house.

The deceased children’s mother, Ebby Esaji, could not hold back her tears as she recounted before the court what happened on the ill-fated Saturday morning.  She had released her sons for church and had gone to a nearby kiosk to buy bread.

On returning from the kiosk, she told the court, she met the house boy who had promised to accompany the children to church standing outside the house looking for the boys.

James Ratemo, the father of the deceased children, told the court that he received a call from the suspect a few days before discovering the bodies, asking for forgiveness for killing his children.

The hearing is set to resume on Wednesday June 27, 2018.