Kenya has charged two men with violently stealing from an Irish Catholic priest who had worked as a missionary in the country for more than four decades, police said today.

Jeremiah Roche, a 68-year-old from west Limerick, was stabbed to death two weeks ago, during a robbery at his home on the outskirts of Kericho town, about 200 km west of Nairobi.

Police sources said they charged the two with robbery because the crime was easier to prove in court than murder. Robbery with violence is a capital offence under Kenyan law and it carries a maximum death penalty.

Isaac Kipng'etich and Godfrey Kariuki Kiiru denied robbing Roche of a laptop computer, a camera, two mobile phones, a CD player, an Internet connection modem and personal documents.

The court in Kericho ordered the accused to stay in custody until March next year when their trial would start. "Five other suspects are in our custody assisting the police with the investigation," North West regional police commander, Peterson Maelo, told Reuters by phone.

Roche had worked in Kenya since 1968. His body was found by parishioners after he failed to attend a 6 a.m. Mass.