The High Court in Meru will today deliver judgment in a case where a Turkana man is accused of killing Isiolo activist Elizabeth Ekaru on January 3, 2022.
Patrick Naweet told the trial court that he committed the offence because of culture shock.
Trial judge Edward Murithi also heard that Naweet had no intention of killing Ekaru but only acted in self-defence.
Naweet’s lawyer Hillary Mugambi said his client is a villager from Turkana and that the closest he had come to civilization was in Garbatula in Isiolo county.
Mugambi said the accused is a Standard 7 drop-out and is semi-illiterate and that his interaction with the deceased who was civilized and an outspoken activist at the time was like a shock to him.
“The accused encountered the deceased who is outspoken, a woman, and an activist when he experienced a culture shock. He was not used to that as a native Turkana man,” Mugambi said.
Both Naweet and Ekaru were relatives and neighbours.
They had disagreed after the man accused the woman of moving the boundary of a land parcel thus gaining undue advantage.
And so after they met at the funeral of a neighbour, the two decided to tour the land to iron out their differences.
It was during that tour that a quarrel ensued and quickly turned tragic.
Prosecutor Erick Masila told the court that the prosecution had proven the accused murdered the deceased and asked the court to show no mercy.
The accused person attended the burial armed with a dagger after the burial he proceeded to where the deceased was and lured her who was with a minor and they headed to an open field where in a meticulous premeditated way, he murdered the deceased,” Masila said.
Masila said the accused did not deny killing the deceased but he was riding on self-defence.
“It is alleged the deceased attacked the accused using a stone but there was no medical report from the accused as to any injury he sustained from the alleged attack. He was normal when he was first arraigned before this court and did not complain,” Masila said when he gave his final submissions last month.
Justice Edward Muriithi is expected to deliver the judgment this morning.
