A minor has given a chilling account of how a man by the name of Joseph Okello Odhiambo, aka Jose, killed his mother as he watched from a distance, powerlessly, in the Kasarani area on May 7, 2023.
Appearing before Justice Alexander Muteti on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, the 12-year-old boy told the court that the incident came after they had left their place of residence.
He told the court that he, his sister (Jackline), and his mother (Gladys Ndulu) were coming from a saloon when Jose greeted them, but his sister and mother did not respond.
Jose questioned them as to why they did not respond to his greetings and proceeded to tell them to go pick up their things from his house, where they lived as a family.
When they got home, Jose told them to get out of his house, and they walked out, led by the sister, and he closed his house with a padlock.
While they were walking to the gate, the mother told her daughter to go back and pick up their clothes from the house, and Jose gave her the key to the house.
“My mother told Jackie to go back and pick up our clothes; Jose gave her the key to the house, and the three of us proceeded to the apartment gate,” the boy told the court.
He told the court that the mother was walking with Jose as he was behind them, and after getting out of the gate, he was left behind watching them at a distance as they walked on a rough road.
How the incident unfolded
He stood behind a post, watching curiously at what was to unfold, and he saw Jose hold his mother from behind at her waist, and he stabbed her in her neck and ribs with a Masai knife.
“I saw Jose holding my mother from behind and pulling her near the gate while holding a knife using the right hand. He then stabbed her on the neck and near the ribs, and she fell down,” the minor told the court.
“After she had fallen down, Jose started punching her in the stomach, after which he fled from the scene,” the minor added.
After the accused fled the scene, the boy ran to his mother, who was still alive but bleeding excessively.
Ndulu told her son to scream for help, and he did and attracted a huge crowd, including his sister Jackie, to the scene.
“She told me to scream, and I did so; my sister Jackie was among those who responded to the screams,” the witness told the court.
The sister then took her injured mother’s phone and called one Shadrack Mutisya, who told the court that he knew him as his father.
Mutisya and neighbours used Jose’s landlord’s car to rush Ndulu to St Francis Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The hearing of the case continues tomorrow.
