The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has secured a death sentence against Duncan Livingstone Kimathi, a former student of the United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa), for the murder of his fellow student, Sarah Akello Aruwa, in a case involving abduction and a Ksh. 100,000 ransom demand.
Justice Kanyi Kimondo sentenced the 37-year-old after finding him guilty of murdering Akello between June 30 and July 1, 2012, in the Kiamako area of Githunguri, Kiambu County.
The prosecution, led by Millicent Kigira, called 17 witnesses to establish the circumstances surrounding Akello’s abduction, the ransom demands made to her family and her subsequent murder.
The court found that Kimathi and his accomplices had lured Akello before abducting her and demanding money from her family. Justice Kimondo concluded that the circumstances surrounding the abduction and killing demonstrated malice aforethought.
The court consequently convicted Kimathi of murder, contrary to Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the Penal Code, and sentenced him to death.
During the trial, the court heard that Akello was a final-year International Relations student at USIU-Africa when she disappeared. On the day she went missing, she informed a friend that she was going to meet a man she had previously encountered at the university library.
Evidence presented in court showed that her abductors later contacted her family and demanded Ksh100,000 for her release.
Her mother, Hellen Atieno Aruwa, testified that a man called her using her daughter’s mobile phone and demanded the ransom. She negotiated the amount down to Ksh70,000 before reporting the matter to Kasarani Police Station.
Akello’s boyfriend also testified that he tried reaching her on her mobile phone, but a man answered and demanded that Ksh. 100,000 be sent to the deceased’s mobile money account as ransom.
The court further heard that Akello had written in her notebook that she intended to meet a person identified as Daniel Muriithi. She had also recorded his telephone contact.
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However, the court established that Kimathi did not know Muriithi and concluded that the identity had been used as part of a plan to lure Akello into the trap.
Investigations subsequently led to the recovery of Akello’s bra, panties and a blood-stained top from a house in Savannah where Kimathi’s girlfriend, Wairimu, lived.
The court also heard that the second accused person absconded after being released on bail, prompting the court to direct that the trial proceed in her absence.
A postmortem examination established that Akello had sustained a laceration at the back of her head and bruises on her neck. Her tongue was also found protruding from her mouth.
The cause of death was determined to be neck compression through manual strangulation.
In his judgment, Justice Kimondo found that Kimathi had acted with malice aforethought, noting that Akello had been deliberately lured into a trap, abducted and held for ransom before being murdered.
The prosecution’s case relied on testimony from 17 witnesses to establish the circumstances of the crime and secure the conviction. The court subsequently found Kimathi guilty of murder under Section 203 of the Penal Code and imposed the death sentence under Section 204.
The case arose from events that occurred in 2012, when Akello was pursuing her final year of studies at USIU-Africa.
