A 23-year-old man met his death in Nyeri County after his lover sent a gang to “discipline” him only for the attackers to unintentionally end up killing him.
Ms. Esther Wambui, a 23-year-old student at the Utalii College in Nairobi appeared before the Nyeri High Court on Monday and was accused of masterminding the killing of Dennis Okumu, a matatu tout in Githurai.
It was reported that Ms Wambui, her mother Rosemary Nyawira and a family member by the name Michael Muriuki killed Mr. Okumu on the night of February 3 and 4, 2018 within Karatina township.
According to Corporal Eliud Odhiambo, a police investigator, Ms. Wambui lured her lover to her mother's rural home in Karatina where she intended to “discipline” him for physically abusing her during a previous domestic quarrel. “The mother who works at Karatina Hospital confessed to the crime. The deceased had taken supper at his in-laws' home and was killed while being escorted to where he was to sleep,” said Mr. Odhiambo.
Okumu's disfigured body was found dumped at Kirimara in Mathira East sub-county with five stab wounds in the neck, missing front teeth and eyes that had been gouged out. “The family hired five assailants to discipline the deceased but it turned tragic and they ended up killing him,” added Mr. Odhiambo.
After the assailants killed Okumu, his lover Ms. Wambui and her mother hired Mr. Muriuki, a boda boda operator, to dump his body in Kirimara and paid him Ksh. 3,000.
One of the assailants that had been hired to attack Mr. Okumu tipped off police officers who then apprehended the suspects.
According to Mr. Okumu's workmate, the couple lived together in Zimmerman Estate but Okumu had co-rented a separate house with his friend in Githurai just before his death.
The couple travelled to Karatina together for a “reconciliation” that was to be presided over by his mother-in-law and Okumu's friends say they raised Ksh. 500 for him since he didn't have enough bus fare.
It is also reported that Ms. Wambui went to City Mortuary asking for the whereabouts of the deceased and even claimed that they didn't travel together to her rural home.
A search then ensued and Okumu's mutilated body was found at the Karatina Hospital Mortuary.
The hearing of the case continues on June 4, 2019.