Detectives investigating the murder of the woman whose body was found by her children lying in a pool of blood in Isiolo over a week ago now say her killer could have been assisted to commit the crime.
Celestine Nduku Kioko, 26, was killed in her house at Kambi ya Juu on the outskirts of Isiolo town three weeks after separating with her husband, Erick Mutwiri Mwenda, following domestic quarrels.
Mr Mutwiri, who went into hiding after the March 21 incident, was arrested last Saturday in Nanyuki town together with his cousin who had housed him for one day.
Police reports showed that the suspect, while armed with a kitchen knife and with the intent to kill, sneaked into his estranged wife’s house, raped her, stabbed her several times and slit her throat, leaving her for the dead.
The man, after committing the crime, fled the scene on a motorcycle to Archers Post in Samburu where he is said to have discarded the killer weapon.
The investigating officers are now looking into the possibility that the suspect could have been assisted to commit the crime, and are relying on residents’ testimony that there were some people in the neighbourhood at the time when the incident is believed to have happened.
From the brutal nature of the killing, detectives say there was possibly some struggle before the mother of two was killed.
The officers say there must have been someone on standby, watching for possible intruders, and waiting to flee with the suspect immediately after committing the crime.
“There is no way one would sneak into someone’s house, commit a crime and then comfortably flee on a motorbike. He (suspect) must have been assisted by someone else,” an officer privy to the investigations told the Nation .
Sources revealed that residents who were in the neighbourhood when the killing is believed to have occurred told police that they did not hear any screams.
“We have been wondering how no one heard screams or noise from the house. We suspect there was someone else who helped the attacker,” a neighbour who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue said.
Until his arrest, Mr Mwenda had been on the run from the day the incident happened and had hidden in the neighbouring Meru County before moving to Nanyuki last Friday where he was arrested.
The motorcycle that the suspect used after the incident was days ago recovered in Gambella on the Isiolo-Meru border and detectives will rely on its registration details to determine if it was his or someone else’s.
On Monday, a court in Isiolo allowed police to continue holding the suspect for 14 more days to allow for completion of investigations before he is charged with murder.
In the application made when the suspect was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Samuel Mungai, investigating officers said they needed more time to, among other things, recover the murder weapon, the suspect’s mobile phone and that of the murdered woman.
Mr Mwenda, who is being detained at the Isiolo Police Station, will be taken back to court on April 12, 2021 for further directions.
