The High Court in Nakuru, Kenya, sentenced to death...

The High Court in Nakuru, Kenya, sentenced to death 28-year-old James Mwangi Gichomo after convicting him of slitting his employer's throat and drinking his blood. Gichomo had been charged with killing Joseph Kamau at Maralal town in Samburu on December 5, 2000. Lady Justice Jessie Lessit said that by panicking and going into hiding the conduct of the accused after the murder clearly indicated that he was guilty, allowing the convict to be prosecuted solely on circumstantial evidence.
"His bathing quickly, disposing the bloody clothes and running away from home all show his desperate attempt to conceal his involvement in this macabre act," the judge said. She said the evidence of his wife, Maria Lolpeny was critical as she encountered the accused moments after he had committed the grisly murder. "Lolpeny saw the accused literally dripping blood. He had blood in his mouth and all his clothes were drenched in blood," said the judge in her summation. The judge added that part of a left thumb had been recovered at the murder scene, a clear indication that Gichomo committed the offence.
"It is not by coincidence that the accused had a missing part of his left thumb, and a similar one was discovered at the murder scene," the judge noted.
The labourer confessed to his wife about his chilling act shortly after the murder and threatened to kill her "and drink her blood as he had did to the person he had killed", Lessit observed.
The judge at the same time took issue with the police for conducting shoddy investigations in a case of such magnitude. She said it was surprising that some police officers who testified in the case had forgotten even the most basic details. "I am particularly perturbed by the investigating officer's lack of an eye for details in the case. No wonder none of the exhibits crucial to the case were produced," Lessit said.