REPUBLIC V MUSILI TULO[2012]eKLR deceased. The body had certain parts missing such as eyes, ears and the tongue. The flesh on the left has been skinned. She had a rope around her neck and waist which was tied to a tree. The body was retrieved by the police and taken to hospital mortuary. Cross-examined by Mr Mutie, learned counsel for the accused, she stated that the accused was her son in law. At the time of their marriage, the deceased had only one daughter outside wedlock. This is the girl the accused had attempted to have sex with. The deceased did not report the incident to the police though. Neither did she report herself. The deceased had stayed with her for 3 months before her disappearance and subsequent death. During the 3 months, attempts at reconciliation were made but all in vain. The last time she saw the accused in her home was on 29th June, 2010 but the deceased disappeared the following day. She was not worried when the deceased went missing as she assumed that she was with the accused. Samuel Kilonzo Mwenda (PW2) is a brother to the deceased. On 3rd July, 2010, he came down from Nairobi. When he got home, he did not find his wife. He received information that she had gone looking for her sister in law, who had not returned from the market the previous day. He soon thereafter joined the search team at Kasina Primary School. He was informed by his uncle that it appeared that the deceased had been killed by her husband and her body dumped in a cave in a nearby bush. The witness advised the crowd to seek the permission of the chief to search for her body in the nearby bush since the land did not belong to them. He proceeded to Mwingi Police Station for assistance. On his way back, he heard people shout that the body of the deceased had been discovered. He accompanied the police to where the body was said to be. The body was under a tree. Her tongue had been cut and eyes gouged out. At the scene there was a hat that was blood stained. That hat belonged to the accused according to the witness. Her left leg was also injured. Her shopping was lying there as well. The body was subsequently retrieved and taken to the mortuary by the police. Before the incident, the relationship between the deceased and accused was not cordial. It was stained. They had domestic problems. Indeed by the time the deceased passed on, she was staying in their home. Cross-examined, he stated that the deceased was his younger sister. He had known the accused for well over 10 years. His cell phone number was known to people at home. There were no homesteads where the body was discovered nor wild animals. He had first seen the accused wearing the hat in January, 2010. He was certain that the hat recovered at the scene belonged to the accused because it had 2 colours which were peculiar. In the inside it was blue while on the outside it was white. Joseph Githurai Kawalo (PW3) is uncle to the deceased. On 30th June, 2010, he received information that the accused had left with the deceased for the market. However, the deceased never made it back. The following day at about 2pm, they began searching for the deceased. They were unsuccessful. On the 2nd day, they found the body in a case in a forest. The body was lying on the back with a hat on her chest. The legs were injured and an ear cut. It also appeared as though the deceased had been strangled with a rope. The body was then collected by the police and taken to the mortuary. He had seen the hat recovered at the scene with the accused severally when he frequented the home in search of his wife, the deceased. Cross – examined, he responded that he had received a report that the deceased had come for his wife and they had proceeded to Mwingi Market. He was among the first people to find the body. He maintained that the hat found at the scene belonged to the accused. P.C. Nathan Wasihua (PW4) was among the police officers who came to the scene and evacuated the body of the deceased to Mwingi District Hospital Mortuary. http://www.kenyalaw.org - Page 2/8