Former USIU student sentenced to death for murder of colleague in 2012

Duncan Livingstone Kimathi, 37, was sentenced by Justice Kanyi Kimondo after being found guilty of murdering Sarah Akello Aruwa between June 30 and July 1, 2012, in Kiamako, Githunguri, Kiambu County.

The prosecution, led by Millicent Kigira, called 17 witnesses to prove its case, presenting evidence linking Kimathi to the abduction, ransom demands and killing of the final-year International Relations student.

The court heard that Akello disappeared after telling a friend she was going to link up with a man she had previously come across at the university library.

Her family later received calls from a man demanding Ksh.100,000 for her release. Her mother, Hellen Atieno Aruwa, told the court that she negotiated the ransom down to Ksh.70,000 before reporting the matter at Kasarani Police Station.

Akello’s boyfriend also testified that a man answered her phone when he attempted to reach out to her and demanded that Ksh.100,000 be sent to her mobile money account.

Some of the evidence presented in court showed that Akello had noted down in her notebook that she had set out to link up with someone identified as Daniel Muriithi, whose telephone number she had also recorded. 

However, the court established that Muriithi was not familiar to Kimathi and found that the identity had been used as part of a plan to lure the deceased.

Investigations later led to the recovery of Akello’s undergarments and a blood-stained top from a house in Savannah where Kimathi’s girlfriend, Wairimu, lived.

The court also heard that another accused person who was part of the case fled after being released on bail, making the trial proceed in her absence following the court orders. 

A postmortem examination showed that Akello had suffered a laceration at the back of her head and bruises on her neck. The medical examination determined that she died from manual strangulation.

In his judgment, Justice Kimondo found that the circumstances surrounding the abduction and ransom demands demonstrated malice aforethought, concluding that Akello had been deliberately lured into a trap before being killed.