He killed her, stuffed her lifeless body into a wardrobe and quietly slipped away, even selling some of her belongings to a shylock in a move that would later provide the thread investigators pulled to unravel the crime.
On Thursday, the High Court in Mombasa sentenced Robert Waliaula Kinisu to spend the remainder of his life behind bars for the murder of Jacqueline Ngina Kitheka.
In sentencing him, the court painted a grim portrait of his character. A victim impact statement described him as a dangerous man who ought to be kept away from peaceful members of society.
“I, therefore, sentence Waliaula to a prison term for the remainder of his life,” the judge declared.
“From the mitigation and the pre-sentence report, it is clear that the accused person does not take responsibility for the involvement in the death of the deceased,” the judge observed.
Robert Waliaula Kinisu at a court in Mombasa August 3, 2016 during the hearing of a case in which he was charged with violent robbery and murder of a model. On October 22, 2025, in a different case, he was found guilty of the brutal murder of Mtwapa businesswoman Jacqueline Ngina Kitheka.
Photo credit: File | Nation
Even after conviction, Waliaula insisted that he did not know Ngina and had never interacted with her.
He had been charged with killing her between May 3 and 6, 2021, at the Marina area within Mtwapa Township in Kilifi County. After a full trial, the court called for a victim impact statement and a pre-sentence report before determining his fate.
His lawyer urged the court to consider his age, 43, and argued that an earlier robbery conviction had been quashed on appeal. The prosecution, however, offered a darker account.
“An innocent soul was lost because of greed,” the state submitted, adding that the family remained devastated and had seen no sign of remorse.
The court noted that the community from his former residence was hostile and that his release might even compromise his own security.
It also reflected on the life so brutally cut short. At the time of her death, Ngina was a businesswoman and was living as the spouse of British national Harry Harrington Peter.
Together, they had adopted three children from her relatives and were sponsoring their education, now described as paralysed by her death. The family, the court said, “has not healed and prays for a harsh sentence”.
Although there was no eyewitness, the murder was executed with chilling precision. Instead, it was domestic appliances and household items, including an iron box, mosquito net, toaster and bed cover,s that became the silent witnesses.
Left without direct testimony, the High Court relied on a tight chain of circumstantial evidence. Items pawned for small loans at a Mtwapa shylock proved pivotal.
“The items recovered belonged to the deceased and that is what linked Waliaula to the murder,” the court ruled, finding the evidential chain strong and unbroken.
Robert Waliaula Kinisu in a Mombasa court on August 3, 2016. He has been charged with the murder of Mtwapa businesswoman Jacqueline Ngina Kitheka.
His former girlfriend, Scholastica Maghoha, testified that he had brought home several items later identified as Ngina’s.
“One of the things he brought home was an iron box,” she said, adding that it disappeared days later. She also identified mosquito nets, Luminac plates, a brown bag and other household goods.
On May 2, 2021, he left at 3 am and returned with a television, a fan and extension cables. When police called her to record a statement, he hurriedly removed the items, claiming he had no receipts.
Ngina’s decomposing body was eventually found stuffed in a wardrobe, her head on the floor and legs pointing upwards.
A shylock, Hamisi Mohamed Kamau, told the court that a man had pawned a blender, toaster and juice mixer for Sh1,550, later returning with an iron box for Sh2,050. He identified Waliaula in court. M-Pesa records under the name Brown Kipande matched the deceased’s last phone contact.
A hotel receptionist also placed him at a lodge where he left behind a travelling bag belonging to the deceased. Further searches recovered more of her possessions.
In his defence, Waliaula denied everything. The court was unmoved.
“The accused was in possession of items belonging to the deceased, some of which he pawned for money. He gave no plausible explanation as to how he came into possession of them,” the judge held.
The court added, “These were not acts of accident or provocation. They were calculated and cruel,”
At the end, Waliaula was found guilty of murder, betrayed by the very household items he tried to trade away.
“It is a great relief to Ngina’s family, to the family of another victim previously killed by the same man, and to myself, that after five long years since her murder, Ngina can finally rest in peace and her vicious killer has been sentenced to spend the remainder of his natural life in prison,” Mr Harrington said, as he welcomed the verdict.
The late Janet Adhiambo Asuna.
Photo credit: File
Waliaula had previously made headlines in 2016 over the violent robbery and killing of Mombasa-based model Janet Adhiambo Asuna.
He was convicted and sentenced to death by a magistrate’s court but acquitted on appeal by the High Court in 2019 after serving one year in prison.
Both Ngina’s and Asuna’s families were present in court during Waliaula’s sentencing and said the decision had brought them some measure of relief.
