Fredrick Karisa Charo worked in the house rented by the Italian doctor Rita Fossaceca, a volunteer of the association "For life Onlus", killed in Watamu during a robbery the evening before returning to Italy, November 28, 2015.
After more than three years of trial Charo was sentenced to 20 years in prison because he was recognized as a basist of the gang that organized the robbery ended in tragedy by chance, after the woman had tried to defend herself.
Now the man is in Malindi prison and the aggravating circumstance of his sentence is that during the trial he never gave the names of his accomplices who have not yet been identified. Only one other person, Kelvin Garacha Opiyo, was convicted with him, suspected of being another member of the gang, but no clear evidence emerged against him and in the end the judges sentenced him only for the crime of resistance to law enforcement agencies at the time of his arrest (he was fined the equivalent of about 200 euros or, alternatively, if he does not pay, one year's imprisonment).
Satisfaction for this first important step towards execution by the lawyers of Italy and Kenya, Giulia Lozzi and Tukero Ole Kina.
"We are satisfied for now because we have arrived at a first ascertained truth - commented the lawyers - We wait to read the reasons for this ruling, but obviously we continue to hope that we still work to get to identify all the components of the gang, including the perpetrator of the murder. A special thanks goes to the Italian and Kenyan Diplomatic Corps, and especially to the Honorary Consul Ivan del Prete, for the collaboration and proximity given in recent years.
Originally from Trivento, in Molise, Rita Fossaceca lived and worked in Novara, but for years she went to Africa, to the small village of Mijomboni, as a volunteer to care for orphaned children. Two years ago, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, awarded her the Gold Medal for Civil Valour, while last month, the community of Trivento named the country's outpatient clinic after her.