A former police officer, Wilfred Kibichy Too, who murdered a bartender in cold blood on January 12, 2021, has been sentenced to 45 years in prison by the High Court in Lodwar.
According to a report by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) on Monday, the convict was a police officer attached to the Kakong Police Post in Turkana South sub-county when he committed the heinous crime.
Led by Turkana County Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Edward Kakoi, the prosecution presented seven witnesses who helped paint the picture of what happened that day.
Evidence obtained by the court concluded that Too had gone drinking at a local bar owned by the victim, Susan Nasiru Emure.
He later refused to foot the bill when the time came to pay, and an altercation ensued, during which the former police officer struck Emure on the head, leaving her with a bleeding injury.
However, the horror was yet to end for the victim as Too proceeded to go back to his premises and retrieve his service weapon. He went back to the bar and shot Emure several times, killing her instantly.
When delivering the sentence, Justice Nyakundi noted that the convict deserved a death sentence for this crime due to its nature, only it was outlawed in Kenya.
"Were it that in Kenya the death sentence was carried out, I would have sentenced him to death," Justice Nyakundi proclaimed.
This type of crime is, unfortunately, not a one-off, as eerily similar crimes of police officers shooting bar attendants during confrontations of a similar nature have occurred.
In April 2021, a bar owner succumbed to injuries inflicted by a police officer who wanted to skate off a Ksh450 alcohol bill in Kipsaraman, Baringo North.
Another bartender was shot dead by a police officer in a suspected love triangle on November 14, 2022, in Kapenguria. The suspect had reportedly accompanied his boss to the bar after receiving reports that his lover had been cosying up to another man.
A heated verbal confrontation ensued but quickly escalated when the officer brandished his gun and shot the bartender after she refused to reveal the identity of her other lover.
