A primary school teacher was on Monday arraigned before Homa Bay High Court to answer to charges of murdering his pupil and her 10-month-old baby.
Eric Otieno Ooko allegedly killed the class eight pupil, together with her child which he allegedly sired.
The teacher from Gethsemane Academy on Mfangano Island had impregnated the student last year and was facing defilement charges at Mbita Law Courts.
Following the defilement case against the teacher, he allegedly killed the 13-year-old girl and the baby in an attempt to interfere with the witnesses in the defilement case.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations officer in charge of Mbita Sub-County Philip Sang in an affidavit told the court that the minor was a key witness in the defilement case.
The class eight pupil on January 22 had gone to an antenatal clinic in Sindo Town with her baby but failed to return to her cousin’s house.
The case against the teacher was later on withdrawn due to lack of witness after the whereabouts of the minor could not be established.
Sang said that the accused person had buried the body of the student in a shallow grave near his house after killing her and later strangled the baby and dumped the body in a bush within the same area.
A foul smell in the area led the area residents to discover the two bodies and the accused went into hiding after the two bodies were discovered.
The teacher was later arrested at Obunga estate in Kisumu where he was hiding and was arraigned in court.
The accused denied the charges before Homa Bay High Court Judge Justice Joseph Karanja.
The prosecution asked the court to detain the accused person in police custody saying that he might interfere with the witnesses in the case.
Justice Karanja ordered that he be detained pending the next case hearing.
The case will be heard on April 6, 2020.