This archive report was first published on 14 August 2019.
On August 14, 2019, the High Court in Embu acquitted a woman accused of stabbing her husband's lover to death in 2013.
Justice Florence Muchemi set Benedita Gacugu free, citing lack of evidence in the case that had dragged on for six years.
The judge pointed out that the eight prosecution witnesses did not corroborate their evidence, making it not convincing to warrant a conviction.
The suspect's lawyer, Momanyi Gichuki, had argued that the prosecution witnesses could not substantiate that they saw the suspect murder the deceased.
The accused had been charged with murdering Nicoleta Mugwe on May 7, 2013, at Kabogua Ka Nyama Market in Mbeere North Sub-county, Embu County.
The suspect's husband, Amos Njuki, had testified that he saw his wife emerge with a knife and stab the deceased, who sat outside a nearby shop.
He told the court that the victim died on the spot before the suspect fled.