One of the suspects in a saga where a minor had his eyes has denied committing the crime.
Rael Nyakerario, 80, the grandmother to Baby Junior Sagini said she could not torment her grandchild as she had lived with him for more than a year and in whose company she had fondly grown to cherish.
Nyakerario denied claims that land and inheritance had a hand in Sagini’s assault.
She, however, admitted that she had on the actual day of the minor’s disappearance beaten him up for defecating in a family saucepan.
This, she explained, may have potentially scared him away from home little knowing he was to meet the tormentors who gouged out his eyes.
She told the court she was only called up the following day when Sagini was found lying with empty sockets and writhing in pain.
The granny also said she did not know at what point Sagini was attacked and had his eyes gouged out.
“He walked off at 2 pm and by 3 pm I had begun searching for him without success,” Nyakerario told Senior Magistrate Christine Ogweno during the cross-examination.
Nyakerario said she had already tended to Sagini for a year without any untoward incident and thus she could not gouge out his eyes as he had told the court.
She contradicted whether Alex Ochogo and his mother Pacifica who are suspects were present on the day Sagini was found.
Nyakerario said Ochogo was not in while in another cross-examination, he was found digging the toilet a distance where Sagini was found.
She said she saw Pacifica going to a burial during the morning of December 14, 2022, when Sagini was discovered inside a maize farm.
Nyakerario is represented by Vane Moguche and Winston Magara.
Baby Sagini is being represented by Lawyers Davin Biyaki, Ann Nduhukire, and George Morara.
The court was told of a suspicious toilet that was being dug at Pacifica’s homestead the morning Sagini was discovered a short distance away.
The defense said most witnesses they had lined up to testify have since pulled away due to the sensitivity and publicity of the case.
They were given 14 days to prepare a defense submission.
The case continues on May 26.h
