Get a glimpse of how the Luo community dealt with these crimes.
Arson: When two people fought and one of them burnt the house of the other, a big house with a veranda, big storage pots, foodstuff and other household goods, the elders asked the man to pay a heifer to the owner of the burnt house. If the house was small, he paid three or four goats. However, if the house burning was accident, there was no case. Whether accident or not, if the house was burnt together with domestic animals he was required to pay a heifer and a bull.
Rape: When one raped or attempted to rape a married woman or girl from a neighboring clan or village, libamba, the issue would cause an immediate fight with sticks. The peace maker, Ogayi had the duty to intervene and stop the war. The elders then ordered the offender to give sheep to the woman to cleanse herself. The sheep was slaughtered and the skin ‘thrown’ ibolo by the woman and her husband to ‘bind’ them together because the woman ‘might have conceived’. The offender also gave another sheep to cleanse the village for his disrespectful act.
Promiscuity: When a husband found a man with his wife in bed, he could kill the man there. If he feared the possibility of being haunted by the dead and did not kill the man, he took the case before the elders who asked the offender to give a sheep to the husband. The wife and the husband used the sheep to cleanse themselves. When a man had intercourse with a girl, he was asked to marry her by the elders. If the girl ended up not getting married, (as she was no longer a virgin), the elders asked the man to pay 3 goats.
Elders had sound rules and the regulations to govern the society and the machinery to enforce them. They had power to discipline all, the young men, girls and even children.
Luo customs and practices (1999)-Malo Shadrack.
Luo kitgi gi timbegi (Customs beliefs and practices of the Luo)(2006)-Paul Mboya- A translation into English by Jane Achieng'.
