Edmond Ruto was accused of stabbing his girlfriend Cynthia Chelang’at who was also a fourth-year student at the same institution twice on the neck before turning the knife on himself and attempting to take his own life.

It took the intervention of neighbours who broke the door after hearing the SOS alarm Chelang’at raised.

However, they were too late to save her but managed to rush Ruto to the hospital where he was treated and discharged then was later handed to the authorities.

Justice Joel Ngugi, while passing the judgement termed the incident as a case of toxic masculine behaviour that needs to be discouraged especially among the youth.

“This is the kind of toxic masculine behaviour that requires vehement discouragement in our young people as the victim’s counsel correctly pointed out," Ngugi said.

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The 10-year custodial sentence runs from February 2018 when Ruto was arraigned in court.

However, the deceased family wanted the court to go for the maximum punishment to serve as a lesson to other people in similar situations.

Chalang’at’s family wanted at least life imprisonment, while the prosecution wanted a 20-year custodial sentence.

The suspect pleaded with the court for a lenient punishment, as he was still young and the only beacon of hope his family had.

When he first appeared in court on February 21, 2018, Ruto was given a bond after denying the murder charges that were levelled against him.

Ruto would later renege on his earlier position and entered a plea bargain with the prosecution and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.

He confessed to having stabbed Chelang’at in the neck and in the stomach before trying to end his own life.

The two lovers fell out and on the fateful night of the incident, Ruto sneaked into Chelang’at’s hostel Njokerio area in the Njoro Sub-county because she had him barred from accessing her room after intimating to him that she wanted to end their relationship the previous night.

Ruto immediately demanded details of Chelang’at’s movement from the last time they were together, including where she spent that particular night.

However, Chelang’at felt she was not obliged to answer Ruto because according to her, she was no longer in a relationship with him but Ruto persisted with his probing and that sparked a heated debate.

Chelang’at realised things were about to get out of hand when the suspect locked the door from the inside, prompting her to raise an alarm.

On sensing danger, Chelang’at grabbed a knife that was lying on the table and put it away probably fearing Ruto would make use of it but unfortunately, Ruto followed her and grabbed the knife before launching the scathing attack on Chelang’at then later turned the knife on himself.

He would later tell the court that he committed the heinous act because of rage.