A Kenyan court sentenced Jacktone Odhiambo to 50 years in prison on Monday for the murder of his housemate, an LGBTQ+ activist Edwin Chiloba, nearly two years after the victim’s mutilated body was discovered in a metal box.
The High Court in Eldoret convicted Odhiambo for the January 2023 killing, a case that attracted global attention due to its connection to attitudes toward gay rights in Kenya—a country where President William Ruto has dismissed gay rights as a nonissue and where same-sex relations between men are illegal.
Chiloba was a well-known figure in Kenya’s LGBTQ+ community, recognised for his activism against discrimination.
Odhiambo denied any involvement in his housemate’s murder, even though DNA evidence found on the victim’s body linked him to the crime. The court did not establish a clear motive for the killing, but DNA evidence suggested the two men had an intimate relationship. Odhiambo has the right to appeal the sentence.
During the trial, witnesses testified that they had heard the two men arguing and saw Odhiambo moving the metal box containing the body.
In his ruling, Justice Reuben Nyakundi stated that Odhiambo had planned the murder, waiting until both men returned home from a nightclub. The judge noted that Chiloba had marks on his hands, indicating he had attempted to fight back.
LGBTQ+ groups in Kenya have long criticised discrimination and violence against their community. However, the police have ruled out the possibility that the murder was a hate crime.
