Kisumu Chief Magistrate Hillary Oduor was found dead in his house in Nairobi.
Oduor is said to have moved into the house where he lived with a woman, Njoki Muhia, sometime in September due to closure of his house in South C, Nairobi cause of rent arrears.
Muhia is reported to have returned from work on Thursday last week evening and found the house locked from inside. Upon peeping through the window, she saw Hillary totally asleep but emitting foam on his mouth.
“On arrival, Njoki found her house closed from [the] inside, and she tried to peep through the bedroom door. Upon checking, she saw her boyfriend namely Godfrey Hillary Oduor, whom she claims to be a chief magistrate at the Kisumu Law Courts, totally asleep but emitting foam on his mouth,” says a police report filed at the Industrial Area Police Station on Thursday, December 17.
It was then she called police who arrived and broke in and confirmed Oduor was dead.
Police said that the body had no visible injuries and was moved to City Mortuary pending investigations.
Homicide are awaiting the post-mortem to establish the cause of death.
Makadara Sub-County Criminal Investigation Officer (Sccio) DCI Henry Kiambati said the autopsy is planned to establish the cause of the death.
“We will know what killed him soon after the autopsy is done on the body,” he said.
Oduor was attached to Limuru Law Courts and was moved in the same capacity to Nakuru Law Courts where he served for a short period before being moved to Kisumu Law Courts.
Some of the major cases the magistrate handled was that one of apostle James Ng’ang’a of Neno evangelism who was charged with dangerously driving after his car crashed head-on with a Nissan in Limuru killing a woman in 2015.
The case is still pending in court after he was acquitted by the magistrate and the prosecution appealed.
Following news of Oduor’s death, outgoing Chief Justice David Maraga eulogised the late magistrate as a long-serving servant of the Judiciary.
“It is with sadness that I have received the news of the death of one of our judicial officers, Chief Magistrate Hon Godfrey Oduor,” Maraga said in a statement on Friday, December 18.
“On behalf of the Judicial Service Commission, the Judiciary and on my own behalf, I express our deepest condolences to his family, friends and his colleagues in the Judiciary.
He noted that Oduor served the Judiciary in various capacities since May 21,2001 when he joined as a District Magistrate II and started his career at Kibera Law Courts.
“He was later posted to various stations including Keroka, Kisii, Limuru and Nakuru. By the time of his death, he had risen through the ranks to become a Chief Magistrate. We are grateful for the time he served the Judiciary and pray that God grants his family the fortitude to bear this loss.” He concluded.