A man who allegedly killed his wife by stabbing her with a kitchen knife after a domestic quarrel has been found guilty of murder.
High court judge Mary Kasango found Evans Mwangi guilty of killing Caroline Wanjiru in January 2016 at Kenyatta road.
In the judgement delivered on April 22, 2021, the judge said the prosecution portrayed a turbulent relationship characterized by fights with the accused being the more violent party.
In examining the evidence of the case, the court came to a conclusion that the circumstances prove the case points unerringly to the accused as the perpetrator of the offence of murder.
“There does not exist a room for co-existence of circumstances weakening that inference. The prosecution has proved its cases on the required standard, beyond reasonable doubt. I therefore convict Evan Mwangi of the offence of murder”, the judge ruled.
Esther Njeri Maina younger sister of deceased said Mwangi used to assault deceased “savagely”.
Lucy Wanjiku Kungu was the mother of the deceased. She knew the deceased as a friend of her daughter the deceased. She however confirmed that they had lived together for 7 years.
She described their relationship at the beginning as being good but later it deteriorated.
She stated in her evidence that “My daughter would call … at 2.00 am to report that accused wanted to kill her. I would often take a boda boda to go rescue her. She called me to go rescue her at least 5 time”.
Wanjiku added that she once had to move her from where she was living to come living with me because of how she had been beaten… within 2 months Karis (accused) came back to live with her. But they fought again.
She said one day accused broke her teeth and also damaged the house until they were evicted. On that day accused came and attacked us with a knife in deceased’s house. The landlord had a gun and it’s what saved us.”
The deceased’s mother narrated how on 24th January, 2016 she was informed by another lady that her daughter had died.
She accompanied that lady to the place where the deceased’s body had been found but on arriving there she was informed by those that were there that the body of the deceased had been taken up by police.
Lydia Nabwire, in 2016 was employed by the deceased as a bar tender.
The bar was called Kaska Inn at Kenyatta Road. She also lived on Kenyatta Road. She knew the accused and the deceased as husband and wife.
On January 23, 2016 she had reported at work at 2.00 pm. The deceased arrived at the bar at 7.30 pm in the company of accused. The deceased began taking alcohol with her aunt up to 10.00 pm. When the aunt left. At 11.00 pm this witness after being paid by deceased Sh 2,000 wanted to close the bar.
“But a customer came in at this point. He wanted alcohol, Carol (deceased) told me not to sell to him but Karis (accused) argued that since the man was in crutches I should sell to him. I didn’t sell to him”, she added.
Carol and Karis started arguing with each other about this issue. They used to argue all the time. They would also often fight in front of customers.
She said they left together and got to the foot bridge and I left for my house. This is about 100 metres from the pub. We lived in opposite sides.”
Fredrick Mugendi was a neighbour of the accused and deceased. He knew them as husband and wife. They lived 10 meters away from his house.
On 23rd January, 2016 at 3.30 a.m. while he slept he heard someone calling him at his window. It was the accused. On opening the window he said he saw accused whose T shirt was soaked in blood. They talked through the window.
“He (accused) told me that they had been attacked by thugs. I asked him where carol (Deceased) was and he said that carol had run away.”
Mugendi opened his door for the accused offered him water and food. He noted the accused was injured on his ribs but the injury was not serious.
He woke up his two neighbours and they all together with the accused went to the accused’s and the deceased’s residence. There was no one there. Mugendi said that Mwangi, at that house was calling out “babe babe”.
He suggested they report the matter to the police but on getting to the highway they did not find public service vehicle. They therefore decided to report it the next morning. The accused slept on that witnesses’ couch.
In the morning the witness said he went to take tea at a local restaurant. On his way back to the house, at 8.00 am, he noticed people were going in one direction. On following them and at a place called Tafrijah he saw deceased lying down dead.
On his way back to his house he met the accused who asked him:-“Has Carol been killed?”
On January 29, 2016, the police visited Mugendi’s home.
“They knocked and came in. They started searching the house. They didn’t find anything but one found something on the slab at the front of my house – above the house. He climbed on top of the toilet and then he dropped a knife from above there. It was clean knife.”
Chief Inspector Police Jacinta Kalundu was the Investigating Officer (I.O.) of the case who retrieved the knife on top of the roof of the house of Fredrick.
The I.O. noted that the knife was blood stained. That knife was taken to government chemist and the report presented by the government chemist revealed it had human blood and the DNA profile generated from that blood stain, matched the DNA profile generated from the deceased’s blood sample.
In his defence, Mwangi said that on the night of January 23, 2016, at 3.30 am he was walking home with his wife, deceased, when they were attacked by thugs.
The thugs injured him on the chest and waist. He produced P3 to prove those injuries. He bled following that attack. The deceased screamed and the accused ran to the home of a neighbour called Kennedy Muthengi.
Together with Muthengi and other neighbours they went to the scene of attack and to the club to look for deceased. They did not find the deceased. They also went to the deceased’s aunt and mother but even there they did not find anyone.
Accused said that Muthengi advised him at 6.30 am to go and report to the police. At 7.30 am a police officer informed him that a female’s body had been found at Kenyatta road. He saw the body in police vehicle and he was able to confirm that it was deceased’s body.
