TWO MEN have been charged by Kenyan police with the killing of Irish missionary priest Fr Jeremiah Roche, while five other suspects remained in custody yesterday.
Fr Roche (68) was killed on December 10th in an attack at his home in Kericho, about 250km northwest of Nairobi, where he served as a missionary with the Kiltegan Fathers for more than 40 years.
Following his death, Taoiseach Brian Cowen called on Kenyan authorities to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the matter.
Regional police commander Patterson Maelo said yesterday that police had found the two murder weapons, an axe and a crowbar.
“That will assist us greatly,” Mr Maelo said. “We also took fingerprints and blood samples for comparison.”
A phone stolen from Fr Roche’s home was also found, Mr Maelo said.
The two accused, Isaac Kipngetich and Godfrey Kiir, have denied the charges.
They are also accused of stealing a camera, a laptop, other electronics and documents.
The two men were charged with robbery with violence.
Both are capital offences, though the death penalty has not been carried out in Kenya since 1987 and President Mwai Kibaki recently commuted the death sentences of some 4,000 condemned prisoners.
Violent robberies and killings are extremely common in Kenya.
Mr Maelo said that the trial of the two men was expected to start in March.
Fr Roche, known as Jerry to his friends, was a member of the Co Wicklow-based Kiltegan Fathers who had lived in Kenya for more than 40 years. He was the only Catholic priest in the area.
His body was found in his home on the morning of December 11th after he failed to appear for a morning Mass.
Police said they feared at the time that he had been killed by young men whom he had paid to help build a road running from Kericho to the church where he worked.
Following his death, Cardinal Seán Brady said he was “very saddened” to hear about what had happened to the much loved and admired Fr Roche, who he said had intended to retire to his home parish of Athea, Co Limerick, next year.
“Fr Roche’s death is a reminder to us of the great sacrifice of those who risk their lives answering God’s call to bring the Good News to the poorest of the poor around the world,” Cardinal Brady said.
While most missionaries are buried in their adopted countries, Fr Roche’s body was returned for burial in Ireland at the request of his family.
More than 50 priests, including Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien from Edinburgh and Bishop Bill Murphy of Kerry, joined Fr Roche’s family and hundreds of mourners at St Bartholomew’s church in Athea for the funeral Mass on December 20th.
Mr Cowen and President Mary McAleese were represented by their aides de camp at the funeral, which heard tributes to a mighty man with an immense love of Irish music.
Fr Roche was buried following the funeral Mass in the nearby Holy Cross cemetery on Athea alongside his parents Edmund and Mary Roche (née Dalton).
The fourth youngest in a family of 11, he is survived by sisters Kit, Mary Ann, Eileen, Nora, Hannah and Margaret, and brothers Patrick, Noel, Christy and Michael.