Kenya Nurse Jailed for 40 Years

Werner Menges

23 May 2011

A VERY long prison term of 40 years lies ahead of Kenneth Bunge Orina.

Orina, the Kenyan nurse convicted of murdering his wife, cutting her body into ten pieces and then dumping the body parts at four sites in and around Grootfontein in September 2007, was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment on a charge of murder on Friday.

On a second count of attempting to defeat the course of justice – a charge based on the macabre dismembering and dumping of the remains of his wife, Rose Chepkemoi Kiplangat – Orina was sentenced to a ten-year jail term.

Orina (38) has already spent the past three and a half years in custody.

With the sentencing in the High Court at Oshakati Judge Christie Liebenberg was scathing in his condemnation of the crimes Orina was found guilty of.

“The barbaric behaviour of the accused fills one with abhorrence which has sent shock-waves through society,” Judge Liebenberg told Orina at one point during the sentencing.

At another point, Judge Liebenberg remarked:

“What justification could there possibly be for a husband to kill his wife; what type of person would thereafter dismember the body into pieces, wrap it, dispose of it and then continue with his own life as if nothing has happened?”

Throughout his trial, Orina has denied that he was guilty of murdering Kiplangat (33) in their flat at the Grootfontein State Hospital Nurses’ Home between September 14 and 17 2007, and of cutting up her corpse and throwing away the body parts in an attempt to escape being held responsible for her death.

After being convicted on April 28, his defence lawyer, Inonge Mainga, told the court that Orina continues to deny the charges, and plans to appeal against the conviction.

This stance is being taken “despite condemning evidence adduced against him during the trial”, Judge Liebenberg remarked on Friday.

He added: “It is obvious that (Orina) has not accepted any culpability for the heinous crimes he committed; nor has he expressed any remorse for the pain and suffering brought upon the family and loved ones of (Kiplangat) – including his own child.”

During the trial Orina not only denied that he murdered Kiplangat, but also disputed that the body parts found at Grootfontein were her remains.

The evidence that State advocate Neville Wamambo placed before the court included forensic test results that linked the body parts’ DNA profile to the DNA profiles of Kiplangat’s parents, as well as testimony from Kiplangat’s parents, who identified a photograph of the severed head found at Grootfontein as showing the face of their daughter.

Judge Liebenberg also referred to this point of the trial on Friday: “(Orina) was not moved by the emotional breakdown of (Kiplangat’s) mother in court when she was required to identify the severed head of her own daughter – a scene that would strike at the heart of any ordinary person. He did not spare the parents the agony of having to look at horrific photos of the dismembered body of their child in order for them to identify the deceased – a fact the accused had placed in dispute despite conclusive (real) evidence against him.”

“It can only be described as a senseless murder where no respect for the sanctity of life was shown”, the judge said. Judging from the absence of a motive and Orina’s “abominable conduct” after the killing, it seems that he is a real danger to society, Judge Liebenberg also said.

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