This archive report was first published on 14 October 2019.
Gruesome Murder of Mary Kamagara ¶
On October 14, 2019, a tragic event unfolded in the life of Mary Kamagara, a 40-year-old mother of two. Her husband's mistress, Judy Muigai, would stop at nothing to cover up her crime.
According to sworn court documents, Judy Muigai had been having an affair with Joseph Kori, Mary's husband. The documents paint a picture of a middle-class couple whose mutual trust and fidelity were stretched to the limit.
Michael Mathenge, the co-accused in Mary's murder, recorded a statement with the police and filed it in court. In his statement, Mathenge lays the blame for the premeditated killing at Judy Muigai's feet.
Mathenge, a taxi driver, claims that he first met Judy Muigai last year as a customer in his car hiring business. She had hired a car from him on several occasions, and on one of those days, she called him to hire a V8 or Prado to run her errands. However, he sent her a white Toyota Allion Sedan instead.
At around midnight, Judy Muigai called Mathenge, saying she couldn't drive the hired car out of Homeland Restaurant where she had spent the whole day with Mary Kamangara. Mathenge arrived at her house in a black Voxy car, finding Judy Muigai alone in the parking lot, holding a sisal bag.
Mathenge's statement reveals that Judy Muigai then went to her house and left with him for Homeland Restaurant. At the restaurant, Mathenge claims that Judy Muigai walked to a vegetation fence and picked a Mercedes-Benz's ignition keys and opened the vehicle. She then called him to the car and told him that the Mercedes-Benz had no fuel and she had no money, thus she wanted cash Sh500.
Mathenge's statement continues to reveal the gruesome details of the murder. He claims that Judy Muigai told him that she had left the ignition keys of the hired car at her house, requiring them to drive back to collect it. At her house, she parked the Mercedes-Benz's across her door with the car's left door open and lights on.
Mathenge added that upon entering the house, Judy Muigai told him of how she had met up with Mary Kamangara and killed her. She claimed that a fight broke out when Kamangara saw her husband's photographs hanging on the wall. They fought, and Judy Muigai hit the woman with a pressure cooker, causing her to fall on the carpet floor bleeding and instantly die as a result of the excess bleeding.
Mathenge's statement reveals that Judy Muigai then cleaned the body, wrapped it with a blanket and bedsheets, and kept it in the kitchen. She also cleaned the floor.
