Who is Cherotich, the prime suspect behind the murder of Masindi DHO?

By Our Reporter

Masindi: According to the sources close to her, Betty Cherotich was born in Kapkwata Forest Village, present-day National Park in Kwanyiy Sub County Kween district, Eastern Uganda.

Cherotich Betty is well known as Juliet at home.

Born in 1987, Cherotich is the second born in their family. Her mother is Lydia Cheptenfan of the Arapkubai family from the Kapchemweny clan, and her father was called Chesuro of the Kaptaracha family from the Kapchebai clan, who died in 1988.

After the death of her father, the mother got married to a man only identified as Matayo, a resident of Kwanyiy from the Kamelkut Clan, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Moses, son of the Kapsume clan, from Cheburbei village in Kwanyiy Sub County.

Cherotich studied at a private nursery and primary school around Chekwasta Tuikat Sub County, sat for her primary leaving examinations at Mere Primary School, joined Kapkwata Secondary School, and later sat for her UCE exams at Cheminy Standard High School. She performed well but didn’t continue with her studies due to family financial instability.

After staying home for about five years without continuing with her studies, she got married through the take-away method in Kabukwo Tulel Sub County. East News reports that her marriage didn’t go as well as expected, so she left the marriage and went back to her mother’s home.

How she came to Masindi

Mr. Andrew Babihemaiso, the LC1 Chairperson of Kyedikyo village in Mirya Sub County, told ugreports.co.ug that Cherotich came to their village around 2010 through her sister, who was married to a soldier.

‘’She had come to visit the sister who was married to a soldier, and eventually she got married to a man (names withheld) in our area, and they produced children,’’ he disclosed.

Mr. Babihemaiso, however, asserted that their marriage didn’t materialize due to Cherotich’s character. According to him, Cherotich was always at his office or the police to settle their family issues.

‘’She had weird behaviors like moving with a knife, and there could always be fights for the time she was married to that man. This prompted me to advise the man to divorce her due to her notorious character and since we never knew where she was coming from exactly,’’ he added.

The area chairperson disclosed that Cherotich was money-minded, wanted property, and was so jealous when she heard that her husband was in a relationship with another woman.

‘’At one time she stole the husband’s maize; there was a brother who had come; they coordinated with a businessman who had come to buy maize; but eventually the husband got them, and we arrested them, but the lady claimed that the money they had paid her, the husband’s brother, had gone with it,’’ he disclosed, asserting that this prompted the man to separate with Cherotich.

Mr. Babihemaiso said that after the marriage failed in Kyedikyo village, she got married to another man in Kisanja village, Labongo Parish, Labongo Sub County, Buruli County, Masindi district.

Speaking to this publication on Thursday on condition of anonymity, the man where Cherotich got married in Kisanja village disclosed that he got her when she was passing by their village to the garden.

‘’She was passing by our village heading to the garden; like any man, I picked interest in her, and this prompted me to propose and marry her,’’ he said.

‘’I can’t tell her exact home district; at one time she told me she comes from Kapchorwa district; at another time, in Busia, she wasn’t clear, but one day I landed on her identity card, which indicated that she was coming from Bukwo district, but I don’t know her exact home district,’’ he stressed.

He also disclosed that their marriage lasted for about one year and seven months, but they didn’t produce any children. ‘’Cherotich was short-tempered, money-minded, and jealous; at one time, she chased me with a panga; she even destroyed my 24’’ flat screen.’’

He added that this prompted him to seek divorce from her. ‘’Cherotich wanted us to share my property, but after the intervention of clan mates, her suggestion was declined since she didn’t produce for me,’’ he added.

As a result, he told ugreports.co.ug that Cherotich rushed to the police and asked for four million shillings as compensation, but police ruled that Cherotich should be paid 500,000 shillings as compensation since she didn’t produce for him.

‘’All that glitters is not gold; I’m therefore advising my fellow men to avoid marrying women they don’t know their family background because what I went through taught a tough lesson,’’ he advised.

According to multiple sources, after breaking up with the Kisanja man, Cherotich got married to about two men before landing on the innocent Dr. Jino Abiriga, the former acting Masindi district health officer.

Sources say that Cherotich went to the late Dr. Abiriga’s Wanainchi Clinic in Masindi town for treatment, and that’s how they fell in love.

Dr. Abiriga’s murder

Facts gathered indicate that the couple started staying together as husband and wife in 2019, but it was established that the plot to murder Dr. Jino Abiriga began after his wife, Cherotich Betty, learned about a second relationship her husband had with another woman identified as Atuhura Suzan in Masindi.

Cherotich first hatched a plot to kill Atuhura Suzan, but all the attempts failed. On the 11th of December 2023, Cherotic Betty hired a contract killer, Kipisang Martin, at a cost of 2.5 million Ugandan shillings to eliminate Atuhura Susan.

One week later, on the 18th of December, she sent 500,000 shillings to Kipsang Martin to come and target Atuhura Susan for elimination. However, this plot failed when the intended victim did not appear at the expected location.

After the failed attempt to murder Atuhura, Cherotich shifted and plotted the murder of her husband, whom she accused of the death of their firstborn, the miscarriage of their twins, and for constantly insulting her as a bad performer sexually.

According to the police, Betty Cherotich tasked Kipsang Martin with finding a second person to help her murder her husband, and on December 12, 2023, Kipsang Martin and Namureng Joshua started their plans to kill Dr. Jino Abiriga.

On the 6th of January, around midday, they booked a room at Valentine’s Guest House. So during the night, Cherotich alerted the duo that the husband was deep asleep. They found the gate open, and she led them into the bedroom.

The suspected killers had two golf sticks. So they found that when the victim was asleep, they hit him on the head with the hand-hoe stick, dragged the body to the floor, and then they slit the throat of the late doctor.

The trio then cleaned the crime scene, dressed the deceased in new clothing, and dumped the body 50 meters away, outside the gate.

After the murder, the two male suspects disposed of bloodstained clothes in a pit latrine at Valentine’s guest house, where they had stayed. They left Masindi Municipality on January 7, 2024, at 5:30 a.m. for Bukwo.

Police reconstructed the crime scenes, recovered several exhibits, including the shoes of the deceased with the suspect, the clothes of the suspects, which they had on that day of the murder, and submitted samples for forensic analysis, which they recovered from the Bulyasojo cell.

Police also retrieved the bag from the latrine at Valentine’s Guest House. It had a pillow cover, a moping rug, a work ID for the deceased, and several other bloodstained clothes.

All three suspects, including Cherotic, Kipisang, and Namureng, have admitted to their involvement in the murder.

On January 16, 2024, the trio appeared before the Masindi Chief Magistrate, Kosia Kasibayo, who remanded the trio to Hoima government prisons on allegations of murder.

Kosia didn’t allow the trio to plead to the charges since his court lacks jurisdiction to try capital offenses and remanded them until January 30th, 2024, for the mention of their case.

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