Police officer jailed 30 years for fatally shooting wife

A police constable who sprayed 11 bullets on his wife, killing her on the spot in the presence of their minor son has been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.

Justice Reuben Nyakundi of the High Court in Eldoret sentenced Bernard Ndege, 53, to serve the sentence, noting that the prosecution had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt.

Ndege, who has been serving on interdiction, is said to have fired 11 bullets using his assigned AK 47 rifle that killed his wife Fenny Bosibori ,42, on the night of March 9, 2019 at their Soy police line house in Uasin Gishu County.

According to court documents, the officer shot his wife several times on the head, stomach and thighs killing her on the spot while their 9 year-old son watched helplessly.

The judge, in his ruling, noted that the officer breached the trust bestowed on him and misused a government firearm to settle a domestic quarrel yet the gun was not intended for such a purpose.

Nyakundi said the accused was a trained law enforcement officer who understood the lethal consequences of his actions but made a deliberate choice to use his service weapon against his spouse.

"The totality of evidence permits only one reasonable conclusion. That Bernard Arabu Ndege, acting with clear premeditation and malice aforethought, committed the offense of murder. This court finds you guilty of the offense of murder and you will serve 30 years in jail. I am not the final say because you have the right to appeal if you desire”, said Nyakundi.

14 other prosecution witnesses, including Ndege's former colleagues who witnessed the murder testified in the case.

One of the officers told the court that he saw the couple arguing about a wallet and an ATM card outside their house and also heard the accused threatening to kill the woman if she did not surrender the items to him.

The couple then went into their house, where gunshots were heard.

In his defense, Ndege had denied that he was the one who shot his wife and linked the murder to an attacker he did not know.

He further claimed that he used to hide his gun below a mattress in their house and that he always had a good relationship with his deceased wife.

But Justice Nyakundi dismissed Ndege's claims as an alternative narrative he had tried to create.

He pointed out that overwhelming physical and scientific evidence linked him to the murder.

In July last year, the court was forced to cancel Ndege’s Sh500,000 cash bail that he had been granted after he failed to turn up in court more than three times for the hearing of his murder case.

Justice Nyakundi cancelled Ndege’s bond after he was informed by the prosecutor, Mark Mugun, that Ndege was being held in custody at Kisii police station in connection with livestock-related theft.

The judge noted during the sentencing that Ndege's conduct was unacceptable, adding that he had not shown any remorse but instead sought to distance himself from the crime