Edwin Chiloba, LGBTQ Activist.
24-year-old Jackton Odhiambo, husband to deceased Kenyan LGBTQ activist, Edwin Chiloba has confessed to killing the popular activist.
According to Kenyan Police authorities,
Chiloba's lifeless body was discovered on Wednesday, in a metal box by the roadside near Eldoret, BBC reported.
A witness disclosed that he saw someone in a vehicle without a license plate leaving a metal box by the side of the road.
Police opened the box and found the body when they were called.
Edwin's eyes were gouged out.
Preliminary police reports indicate that the famous fashion designer and model died from strangulation.
Earlier, police spokesperson Resila Onyango quoted in the Star newspaper said the motive for the killing was unknown and experts were investigating the matter.
However, Uasin Gishu County Directorate of Criminal Investigations officer, Peter Kimulwa, while briefing reporters said that Langas Police OCPD ,John Odhiambo has confirmed that Nairobi-based freelance photographer Jackton Odhiambo killed Edwin Chiloba, Kanyidaily reports.
Odhiambo is currently being held at Langas police station in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County.
According to Kimulwa, the Police OCPD, John Odhiambo told Citizens TV that Police, having suspected that Jackton committed the act out of jealousy, pursued a betrayal angle in their investigations.
Jackton was in a relationship with Chiloba, but “felt betrayed” after the relationship ended.
Edwin and Jackton lived together as ‘husband and wife’ last year
and shared a girlfriend who has a baby with one of them.
Police suspect Jackton committed the crime with the help of two other friends, the Kapsaret sub-county police commander John Odhiambo said.
According to Alex Nyamwrya, the caretaker of the house where the two lived on the Kimumu estate, Jackton called him on January 4 to say he was vacating the house.
“I received a call on Jan 4 from Chiloba’s mobile phone, but it was his friend Odhiambo on the line informing me that he was vacating the house,” said Mr. Nyamweya in a TV interview.
Detectives are on the trail of the two other suspects and the vehicle used to transport the body.
“It is a matter of time before we arrest the two suspects who were spotted by neighbors loading a metallic box into a vehicle that was later discovered to contain the body of the late Chiloba,” added Mr. Kimulwa.
Activists react.
Kenya Executive Director of Amnesty International, Irungu Houghton has blamed the government for failing to protect citizens and called for a national debate on similar killings, in Kenya.
“Gay rights activist Edwin Chiloba has been brutally murdered. Our opinions will filter his death as a hate crime, grim murder, or another example of a state that failed to protect its citizens. We have to go beyond arresting serious criminals. Too many of us normalize prejudice, stigma, and violence.
“Sexism, ableism, and homophobia are rooted in destroying the autonomy and independence of human beings we think are different from us. Time to disrupt the normalization of prejudice and pain in all our spaces,” Mr. Houghton said.
Chiloba sustained a deep cut on his lips and bruises all over his body last year when he was publicly attacked by unknown persons.
Chiloba was a student of Apparel Fashion and Design at the University of Eldoret and was due to graduate in April 2023, according to the Eldoret University student leader, Evans Kipchumba. “We know him as a social and outgoing person. His death remains a mystery to us,” said Mr. Kichumba.
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