BY WINSTONE MUSISI
The hearing of a murder trial against Naftali Kinuthia, the prime suspect in the grisly killing of Moi University medical student Ivy Wangeci in cold blood on April 9, 2019, resumed today with her former a classmate at Alliance Girls High School testifying before the High Court in Eldoret.
Her friend who requested not to be named disputed claims before Justice Stephen Githinji that the suspect was a girlfriend of the late Ivy saying that he was trying to force himself on the deceased.
The Electrical Engineering graduate claimed that Kinuthia wanted to enter into a forced relationship with Ivy against her wish adding that it reached a point where he started threatening her with death.
She narrated to the court how Kinuthia used to sponsor their birthday parties with the aim of wooing the deceased to his side so as to become his girlfriend in Nairobi.
“I can recall an incident sometime in 2018 when I had a birthday party and I invited my three friends among them Ivy to grace the colorful event which was to be held at a club in Westlland area in Nairobi.
“Incidentally, Kinuthia forced himself to the event and allowed him to attend. Kinuthia footed the whole bill amounting to sh 14,000 to our surprise since we had not requested him to do so,” she said.
The court heard that after the bash, Kinuthia started nagging Ivy while asking her to accompany him to his house so that they can spend the night together which she turned down the request.
Ivy blocked Kinuthia
“According to the slain Moi university final year medical student’s friend, it reached a point where Ivy blocked Kinuthia’s phone for
trying to force a relationship on her.
“Kinuthia used to send money and buy gifts to Ivy with the aim of winning her heart but she was not willing and ready to have love with him despite having schooled together in primary school,” she told the attentive court.
She told Justice Githinji that since the suspect was blocked by Ivy, he started commuting to the deceased through text messages sent to her phone which she could later send to her friend.
Kinuthia, through some of the text messages that were shown in court expressed his frustration and anger at Ivy for refusing to his
request to meet despite loving her so much.
Spent Ksh200,000 on the late
According to Ivy’s friend, Kinuthia claimed that he had spent more than Ksh200,000 on the deceased by buying her gifts and taking her to entertainment clubs for lavish treats.
He started demanding a refund of the money that he had spent on Ivy footing her bills in clubs and purchase of gifts now that she had turned her back on him in his quest to enter into a relationship with her,” she said.
She told the court that Kinuthia even threatened to go and meet Ivy’s mother to repay all the monies he had spent on her daughter amounting to sh 200,000.
Earlier on, a police sergeant attached to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret Mudende Pepela, narrated to the court how he received a distress call from a security guard over the killing of Ivy.
When I arrived at the scene of the incident, I found Ivy lying down in a pool of blood near the MRI section while the accused was standing some 200 metres away while holding an axe in his right hand and a knife in his left hand” explained Pepela.
She tried to lift her hands in vain
“I moved closer and saw the deceased staring at me and trying to lift his hands but in vain. It was a very traumatizing scene and unfortunately, I could not help as I was helpless owing to my background as a trained police officer and not a medic,” he told the
court.
He told the court that he was forced to pursue the accused whom he ordered to surrender but he instead defied his directive.
“I removed my pistol and asked the accused to drop down the weapons that he was holding in his hands. And by then a group of enraged boda boda riders had started to surround him while pelting stones at him as they were baying for his blood,” he said.
Ten witnesses including Wangeci’s mother and university classmates have so far testified before the High Court.
Kinuthia, the 31-year-old soft wear graduate student has been in remand at Eldoret GK Prison since he was arrested in connection with the brutal killing of Ivy on April 9, 2019.
Kinuthia pleaded not guilty to the offense of murder when he appeared before Eldoret High court judge three years ago.
She had just finished her hospital rounds
He is accused of hacking to death Ivy Wangeci, using an axe outside the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret.
Wangeci was in the final stages of completing her studies and had just finished her ward rounds at MTRH when Kinuthia allegedly accosted a few metres outside the facility’s gate.
Kinuthia, who was 29 when he was arrested, had been denied bond three times by the High Court in Eldoret on the basis that he was a flight risk among other reasons,
While denying him bond, justice Githinji argued that the reasons that had been raised by the prosecution and Wangeci family’s lawyers were compelling enough to warrant denial of bail or bond.
The Judge adjourned the hearing of the trial matter to December 15th.
Let’s hope justice will prevail