Naftali Kinuthia To Be Sentenced For Ivy Wangechi Murder

Naftali Kinuthia, the main suspect in the killing of Moi University medical student, Ivy Wangechi in April 2019, has been found guilty by the high court in Eldoret.

On Thursday, October 26, Justice Stephen Githinji who has been presiding over the trial of the case since 2019, said that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Kinuthia will therefore be set to be sentenced on Wednesday, November 22, 2023.

Justice Githinji who is currently based at the Malindi High Court delivered his judgment virtually in a 45-minute session that saw some of the advocates representing the victim's family break down while being overcome with emotions.

The judge had indicated that Kinuthia's actions were premeditated, as he used an axe which he had bought to kill Wangechi.

Naftali Kinuthia talks to his lawyer at the High Court in Eldoret on April 15, 2019. /FILE

“If he had no intention to kill, he had the opportunity to attack the victim using his bare fist. But he had an axe and a knife and used an axe, a lethal and dangerous weapon, to strike the medical student,” the judge stated.

He added: “The accused had a metal axe with a metal handle and claimed that he had it in the car for security reasons. I do not agree with him. I saw the axe in court, it is the one used in villages to chop firewood and cut trees.

Githinji however tore into the accused for denying that he had a knife, terming it laughable when he claimed in his defense that he was given the knife by a member of the public.

The Judge stated that Kinuthia did not even use the knife he had to attack Wangeci, noting that a knife would have probably given the deceased a second chance to live. 

He also dismissed allegations by Kinuthia in his defence hearing that he was intimately involved with Wangechi. Kinuthia gave his final defence evidence in the murder case at the Eldoret-based High Court on Friday, March 3, almost four years after the murder took place.

He traced his relationship with the late Wangechi all the way to their childhood days in primary school, adding that before her demise, she borrowed him Ksh28,000 to fund her birthday party which he agreed to. 

"She said she planned to have a big party because it was supposed to be the last one with her friends, so she told me she's planning to spend Ksh28,000, that was her budget. She asked me if I could support her with the funds and I accepted," he recalled in part.

He further recalled how he had travelled all the way from Nairobi to Eldoret to wish her happy birthday, after funding the party, and seeing his intimate lover and long-time friend hugging another man.

This was despite their relationship being estranged to the point that she had blocked his number for some time making it impossible for him to reach her.

Kinuthia added that he tried severally to reconcile their differences and communicated to her through a friend identified as Mary Ann Chepkoech. He had asked Chepkoech to convince Wangechi that they meet and talk out but it did not materialize.

He sent her Ksh14,000, promising to deliver the balance on April 10, 2019, which was her birthday. However, Wangechi blocked him and on April 4, Kinuthia made the journey to Eldoret without her knowledge.

Wangechi had refused to meet him to sort out their differences, a matter which made Kinuthia to travel to Eldoret in his car and then to the medical school where he parked and located Wangechi in person and deliver the balance himself.

“I wanted to wish her happy birthday and also inform her that I would not attend the party because I was to travel back to Nairobi immediately for work. I also wanted to deliver the balance for the party personally," he went on.

While near the hostels, he ran into Wangechi who was surprised to see him and revealed to him that her new boyfriend would take care of the remaining costs. She proceeded to chase him away from the party, a matter that made him realise that she cut all ties with him.

“She told me that I was not invited to the party and that I should immediately leave. I was so shocked by what she was saying. At that point I didn't even answer I knew she had burned all the bridges and there was no way I would restore our relationship.

“In my mind, I felt like a loser and hopeless because of what she said. I became angry and felt bad that the connection we had since 1998 had suddenly come to an end,” he continued.

He returned to his car and decided to never talk to her again. While inside the car, he looked back and saw her hugging and holding hands with a male friend around 50 meters away, a man whom he later determined as Andrew Macharia.

It was here that he lost control and was clouded by so much anger over the events that he was unable to describe how he reached out for the axe to attack her. He noted that the axe had been in his car for over a year and he had bought it for his own security because of working at night many times.

Kinuthia revealed that he was attacked after the incident by members of the public and sustained injuries as well as lost consciousness from the beatings he received.

He was rescued by a police officer and taken to the Moi Referral Hospital for treatment, and after regaining consciousness, was told that Wangechi had died.

Side by side image of the late Ivy Wangechi. /TV47 DIGITAL