Court Hears How Teenage Girl Was Allegedly Defiled and Murdered by Uncle

By Abdimalik Hajir - Reporter

17 December 2025 - A 13-year-old boy on Wednesday gave a chilling account before the High Court in Garissa of how his uncle allegedly assaulted and strangled his 17-year-old sister to death at their family homestead.

Testifying as the first prosecution witness before Justice John Onyiego, the minor told the court that the incident occurred on the night of 16 November 2025 at Borehole 5 in Fafi Sub-County, Garissa County.

At the time of the incident that sparked public outrage, police charged and arraigned four suspects, including the prime suspect and three others who were said to have concealed the crime.

The accused, Shafe Bilal Shaklane, 26, a community health volunteer, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Safiya Hussein Bilal at around midnight on 16 November 2025.

During examination-in-chief by Principal Prosecution Counsel Bernard Owuor, the witness said the incident happened a few hours after he and his sister had returned home from visiting another paternal uncle.

He told the court that after arriving home, they spread mattresses on the verandah where his sister laid down a mattress, playing with a phone that was charging, before later moving inside the house to sleep.

The witness said the accused, who is their father’s younger brother, arrived later and slept on the witness’s mattress, while the deceased slept next to them.

He testified that in the middle of the night, he was awakened by unusual commotion and realised his sister was struggling as the accused allegedly touched her suggestively.

The boy told the court that he pretended to be asleep as he watched the events unfold in the full glare of a solar lighting system inside the house.

He said his sister kicked the wall as she struggled, but the accused covered her mouth and strangled her until she stopped breathing.

The witness further told the court that when he attempted to flee, the accused threatened to kill him, forcing him to return and continue pretending to be asleep.

According to the testimony, after the girl died, the accused allegedly undressed both himself and the deceased and defiled her.

He then went outside to wash his face before returning to the house and repeating the act twice, the witness said.

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He testified that the accused later dressed both himself and the deceased, placed her body on the mattress and lay next to it, before threatening to kill him if he revealed what had happened.

At dawn, the accused allegedly woke the minor and took him to the mosque for morning prayers.

After the prayers, he sent the boy to call their aunt, Arabel Bilal.

The witness said the woman screamed upon seeing the body, attracting neighbours to the homestead.

Members of the public noticed marks and bloodstains on the deceased’s neck and questioned what had happened.

The accused allegedly told the crowd that the girl had developed pimples after being treated for dengue fever.

Some members of the public alerted police, but the accused had fled the scene by the time officers arrived.

Police removed the body for postmortem examination to establish the cause of death, while the minor was taken into custody for protection.

The court heard that the children’s mother is deceased and that they lived with their father, who was away at the time of the incident.

The court granted the accused a bond of KSh 1 million with a surety of similar amount.

The court has set further hearing on 18 February 2026.