NAIROBI, Kenya — In a significant reversal, an appellate court has quashed the conviction of a mine worker who had been sentenced to 25 years for allegedly killing his supervisor by running him over with an excavator.
The judges ruled there was no credible evidence linking the accused to the fatal incident.
The case dates back to 2014, when a dispute erupted at a gypsum mining site in Garissa between the mine worker, David Chege, and his supervisor, Lawrence Ogoro.
Chege was accused of deliberately driving an excavator over Ogoro during a confrontation at the site.
While lower courts had accepted the prosecution’s case and imposed the heavy sentence, the appellate bench found fatal gaps in the evidence. It held that the linkage between Chege’s actions and Ogoro’s death was not sufficiently established.
The judgment does not appear to have disclosed alternate theories of what might have happened, nor did it definitively resolve the circumstances of Ogoro’s disappearance and subsequent death.
Legal analysts say the ruling underscores the appellate court’s insistence on rigorous standards of proof in homicide and related criminal cases. It also raises questions about the evidentiary integrity in high-stakes prosecutions, especially in cases involving powerful machinery and remote work locations.
As of now, it is not publicly known whether the state will seek to appeal the decision or refile charges under other legal angles. Meanwhile, Chege is free, and the legal record will need to be updated to reflect the acquittal.
