Detectives who visited a crime scene at Nakuru’s Wawanga Estate, following a wave of killings targeting women in 2021, failed to discover the charred body of a woman in a burnt house.
A witness in a case against members of a gang facing trial for the murder of one of the women, told Justice Hedwig Ong’udi, that she discovered the body a day after detectives had visited the scene.
Ruth Waithera said she was shocked to discover the body on December 2, 2021, after the inferno that destroyed her house.
She said her house help, Beatrice Akinyi, was alone during the incident.
Waithera was testifying in a case where Kevin Otieno, Josphat Juma, Julius Omondi, Dennis Mmbolo, and Isaac Kinyanjui have denied killing Akinyi, the house girl, on December 2, 2021, at Mawanga, Nakuru county.
The gang allegedly targeted female victims aged between 20 to 38, robbing, raping, strangling, and then setting their victims’ houses on fire to conceal the crime.
The attacks happened between December 2, 2021, and June 2022, according to police.
On the fateful day, Waithera was in Nakuru Town where her business is located. At around 3pm, she received a call from a neighbour who told that her house was on fire.
She tried to call her house girl but could not reach her and she decided to board a motorcycle and rush home. When she arrived, she found a crowd trying to put out the fire.
“My two-bedroom stone house was on fire. I tried to call Akinyi but her phone went unanswered. I later made a missing person report at Kagoto Police Station,” she said.
She said officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations visited the scene, entered the house then left.
She was forced to sleep at a friend’s house with her two children who were at school when the incident occurred.
On December 3, Waithera, accompanied by her neighbours, went to clean the house, and they discovered Akinyi’s body in her children’s bedroom.
The post-mortem on the body revealed that she died of asphyxia due to neck compression.
“Her clothes had been removed, and her body was swollen, with no injuries. She had been living with me with my two children since September 2021,” she added.
In July 2022, she received a call from DCI asking her to go to the Police Station, where she identified her daughter’s metal box, a bag, and bedsheets. She learned that Evans Kebwaro was arrested with Akinyi’s phone which led to the discovery of the items.
Kebwaro was sentenced to 12 years in prison by Justice Ong’udi for the murder of Akinyi after he agreed to become a state witness.
He confessed to being at the crime scene and participated in strangling the deceased with his five accomplices.
His confessions led to the arrest of the alleged gang.
The hearing of the case will continue on May 21.
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