Issue date: 9/13/06 Section: News

Gideon Walter Omondi, a 35-year-old Cal State Fullerton student, appeared Tuesday afternoon in the Orange County Superior Court, North Justice Center Fullerton courthouse for his first arraignment hearing on charges of first-degree murder.

The mechanical engineering major turned himself in to the Fullerton Police Department Sunday night after he had allegedly drowned his 4-year-old son Richard in the bathtub of their Fullerton apartment.

The short and stocky Omondi, clad in an orange jumpsuit, appeared calm from behind the caged links of the court holding cell. He accepted Judge Roger B. Robbins' offer of a public defender as his legal representation and was held without bail upon continuance of the arraignment, which is set for Sept. 29.

Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevey detailed the district attorney's early outlook on the Omondi case on the courthouse steps following the proceeding.

Omondi "is going to be charged with first-degree murder," McGreevey said. "He is eligible for the death penalty."

The homicide prosecutor intimated that the Omondi case is going to be handled under special circumstances known as "lying-in-wait," which refer to heavier penalties on premeditated acts of crime.

Fullerton Police Lieutenant John Petropulos explained the chain of events that led to the arrest and arraignment of the CSUF student.

"He came into the front desk [of the Police Department] on 9:30 Sunday night and told the desk officer that he had killed his son," Petropulos said. "He just came in a matter-of-fact tone and told the officer what he had done - we don't usually get that."

Petropulos described the procedures then taken by the police department following Omondi's startling revelation.

The on-duty officers "asked him a few qualifying questions, then got into the apartment and located his son tucked away into the bed. [Omondi's son] was officially pronounced dead at the [Placentia-Linda] hospital."

Placentia- Linda hospital officials would not comment on the case.

Petropulos divulged the next sequence of events, which consisted of the investigation of the apartment and autopsy performed on Richard Omondi following the incident.

"From what he told us, he drowned his son - the evidence doesn't dispute that," Petropulos said. "For all intents and purposes, it looks like a murder."

Omondi married his wife Helen in his native Kenya, and then arrived in the states on a student visa.

Continued...

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