A 28-year-old man admitted to killing his university student lover four years ago out of rage.

Mr. Edmond Ruto, who pleaded guilty in a plea bargain agreement to a lesser charge of manslaughter, claimed he was overcome with rage when he brutally hacked his 21-year-old girlfriend Cynthia Chelang'at on February 19, 2018.

Ms. Chelang'at was a third-year agriculture student at Egerton University, and Mr. Ruto was a fourth-year economics and statistics student there.

On February 21, 2018, Mr. Ruto appeared in court and denied the charge of murder. He was released on bond.

However, he later agreed to a plea bargain with prosecutors and confessed to killing the woman by stabbing her in the neck and stomach before attempting suicide.

In his mitigation before Nakuru Presiding Judge Joel Ngugi, he said he regretted his actions and that the death had caused him and Ms. Chelang'at's family great pain.

"It hurts me to think I was the cause of her death." "I regret... allowing my anger to get the best of me, and I apologize to the family," Mr. Ruto said.

Mr. Ruto pleaded for a lenient non-custodial sentence, claiming he was a new man who had undergone anger management training as well as psychiatric and mental health treatment while in remand at the Nakuru GK Prison.

He produced a certificate to prove his training and stated that he was prepared to use the skills to assist other students in avoiding similar situations.

The court also heard that Mr. Ruto's family approached Ms. Chelang'at's family and discussed a cleansing ceremony before the latter could forgive him.

Mr. Ruto's family stated that the ceremony would include delivering a cow to her family.

He stated that his six siblings and parents relied on him because he was the only child who excelled in school.

Mr. Bernhard Kipkoech Ngetich, the lawyer for Chelang'at's family, said they wanted Mr. Ruto punished severely and did not want him released.

Mr. Ngetich reminded the court of the heinousness of the murder, claiming that Mr. Ruto had shown no remorse until he entered plea bargaining talks in 2022.

He urged a minimum of 20 years in prison, as suggested by prosecutors so that Mr. Ruto's case could serve as a lesson for couples who use their spouses as punching bags in their relationships.

"The world must understand that men and women are not instruments in relationships, but human beings whose dignity must be upheld and respected," Mr. Ngetich said.

Mr. Ruto is accused of stabbing Ms. Chelang'at in the neck six times before turning the knife on himself at their off-campus Njokerio hostel.

Mr. Ngetich described Ms. Chelang'at as a single child of a traumatized mother who sells pineapples for a living and cries every day.

The court will issue its decision on September 29.