Who is Cherotich, sentenced for murdering Dr. Abiriga
“All that glitters is not gold,” he said. “I advise fellow men to avoid marrying women whose background is unknown.”
Masindi: Betty Cherotich, commonly known as Juliet at home, was born in 1987 in Kapkwata Forest Village, now part of a national park in Kwanyiy Sub County, Kween District in Eastern Uganda.
She is the second-born in her family. Her mother, Lydia Cheptenfan, hails from the Arapkubai family of the Kapchemweny clan, while her father, Chesuro, belonged to the Kaptaracha family of the Kapchebai clan. Cherotich lost her father in 1988, a year after her birth.
After her father’s death, her mother remarried a man identified only as Matayo, a resident of Kwanyiy from the Kamelkut clan, who was later sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Moses, a man from Cheburbei village.
Education and early adulthood
Cherotich attended a private nursery and primary school in Chekwasta Tuikat Sub County, later sitting for her Primary Leaving Examinations at Mere Primary School.
She went on to study at Kapkwata Secondary School and completed her UCE at Cheminy Standard High School with good performance.
However, due to financial difficulties, she was unable to continue her education and stayed home for nearly five years. She eventually entered her first marriage through the traditional “take-away method” in Kabukwo Tulel Sub County, but the marriage was short-lived.
Life in Masindi
According to Mr. Andrew Babihemaiso, the LC1 Chairperson of Kyedikyo village, Mirya Sub County, Cherotich arrived in Masindi in 2010, coming to visit her sister who was married to a soldier.
She later married a local man (whose name has been withheld), and the couple had children. However, the relationship was marked by frequent domestic disputes, allegations of violence, and unusual behavior including claims that Cherotich often carried a knife and was regularly at the police station over family conflicts.
Mr. Babihemaiso said “She was always involved in fights. I advised the man to separate from her due to her character and because we never really knew where she came from.”
The marriage ended after she was accused of stealing her husband’s maize in coordination with a relative and a businessman.
Second marriage in Kisanja
After separating from her first husband in Kyedikyo, Cherotich moved to Kisanja village, Labongo Parish, Buruli County, where she entered another marriage.
Her second husband said he met her while she was walking past the village on her way to the garden. Their marriage lasted for about one year and seven months, with no children. He described her as short-tempered, jealous, and money-minded. At one point, he claims, she chased him with a panga and smashed his television.
When their relationship ended, Cherotich allegedly demanded UGX 4 million in compensation. Police later ruled she would receive UGX 500,000, given that the marriage had produced no children.
“All that glitters is not gold,” he said. “I advise fellow men to avoid marrying women whose background is unknown.”
Links to Dr. Jino Abiriga
After the Kisanja marriage ended, sources allege Cherotich married two other men before meeting Dr. Jino Abiriga, the late Masindi District Acting Health Officer.
Reports say she visited Wanainchi Clinic in Masindi town for medical treatment, where she met Dr. Abiriga, and the two began a relationship.
Plot to murder Dr. Abiriga
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.
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.
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.
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.
Convicts plead for forgiveness
While appearing before Masindi High Court on Tuesday, Betty Cherotich, a widow apologized to the relatives of the deceased, public and the court for the murdering her husband. ‘’I am sorry for what happened, I regret why I did it. I did it out of anger and I request for forgiveness, l am a widow, I left my children suffering, I request court to forgive me for what happened,’’ she pleaded.
Martin Kipsang regretted for what happened apologizing that it was not out of his will. ‘’I request you forgive me. I request the court to forgive me, I request the public to forgive me, I request the family of the deceased to forgive me .’’
The road to prison
In her judgment, Lady Justice Mary Babirye, the Judge Masindi High Court sentenced the trio to 35 years in prison. She however deducted one year, eight months and seven days the convicts have spent on remand.
Lady Justice Babirye however said the convicts have a right of appeal against the legality and severity of this sentence within a period of fourteen days.
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