NAIROBI, Kenya Sep 18 – The High Court has convicted Duncan Kimathi of murdering United States International University (USIU) student Sarah Akello Aruwa after finding that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Justice Kanyi Kimondo found Kimathi guilty of murder contrary to Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the Penal Code.
Aruwa, a final-year International Relations student at USIU, disappeared on June 30, 2012 after telling a friend that she was going to meet a man she had met at the university library.
Her body was later discovered in a thicket in Ndithiati Village, Ngewa, within Githunguri, Kiambu County.
The prosecution relied largely on circumstantial, electronic, documentary and identification evidence to link Kimathi to the disappearance and killing.
The court heard that Aruwa’s family began receiving ransom demands after she went missing.
A caller using her mobile phone initially demanded Sh100,000 before reducing the amount to Sh70,000 following negotiations with her brother-in-law, Jim Onyango.
The caller later sent a threatening message warning the family that Aruwa would be killed if the money was not paid.
Police and relatives who searched Aruwa’s locked house recovered a notebook containing a handwritten note stating that she had gone to meet “Daniel Mureithi”, described as a USIU student living in Savannah.
The note also contained two telephone numbers.
Government document examiner SSP John Muinde testified that the handwriting in the notebook was made by the same person who wrote samples attributed to Aruwa.
Telephone records formed a key part of the prosecution’s case.
One of the telephone numbers written in Aruwa’s notebook was registered to Kimathi, who acknowledged during his defence that he used the number.
Safaricom call data showed that the number communicated with a car hire company’s telephone number for much of June 30, 2012 — the day Aruwa disappeared.
The car hire operator testified that he hired a Toyota NZE, registration KBH 642R, to Kimathi at about 10.30am that day.
The vehicle’s tracking system placed it in the Ngewa area heading towards Githunguri.
Kimathi denied hiring the vehicle on the material day. He told the court that he had planned to attend a concert at the Carnivore grounds but eventually did not go.
Justice Kimondo rejected that account, finding that the evidence presented by the prosecution connected Kimathi to circumstances surrounding Aruwa’s disappearance.
The court also considered evidence from police officer PC John Amalemba, who said he saw a man arrive at the location where Aruwa’s body had been found.
The man allegedly claimed to be a police officer but left after members of the public questioned him.
Amalemba later identified Kimathi during a police identification parade.
However, Justice Kimondo rejected separate voice identification evidence presented by Onyango, finding that the conversations with the ransom caller were too brief and that Onyango had not previously known Kimathi.
The court further considered evidence involving Kimathi’s alleged girlfriend, Winnie Wairimu Kariuki.
Police recovered a bra, pantie and bloodied top from a house in Savannah, which relatives identified as belonging to Aruwa.
Kariuki had been charged alongside Kimathi but absconded after being released on bond. Her bond was cancelled in November 2018 and a warrant of arrest issued.
In October 2022, the court allowed the prosecution to proceed with Kimathi’s case separately.
The judge also admitted evidence relating to Kimathi’s previous conviction for abducting a girl and demanding a ransom in a separate case before the Makadara Chief Magistrate’s Court.
Justice Kimondo found the conviction admissible, holding that it was directly relevant to the circumstances surrounding the alleged abduction and ransom demands in the Aruwa case.
Kimathi denied involvement in Aruwa’s disappearance and murder throughout the trial.
He denied being a USIU student at the time of the offence, hiring the Toyota NZE, travelling to Ngewa or participating in Aruwa’s abduction.
He also challenged the authenticity of the notebook and the interpretation of the telephone number recorded in it.
His document examiner, Emmanuel Karisa Kenga, agreed that the notebook and known samples of Aruwa’s handwriting originated from a common handwriting source, but questioned the clarity of one digit in the telephone number.
Justice Kimondo rejected the challenge after examining the original notebook in court and finding that the number matched the one registered to Kimathi.
The court found that Aruwa died from neck compression caused by manual strangulation.
The finding was based on the post-mortem examination conducted by government pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor.
Justice Kimondo noted that there was no eyewitness to either the alleged abduction or the killing.
However, he found that the combined circumstantial and electronic evidence established a chain of events pointing to Kimathi’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge concluded that Kimathi and his accomplices had lured Aruwa into an abduction for ransom before killing her when the ransom was not paid or as police investigations intensified.
Kimathi has been convicted of murder. The court will determine the next steps in the case in accordance with the law.
