Esther Njoki and Bernard Ngugi who are suspected of killing Tabitha Wambui in Bahati on Christmas day appeared before the Nakuru resident magistrate Emanuel Soita.
On the morning of December 25, Ms Tabitha Wambui, a bar attendant, had intended to carry out her duties early before she could embark on celebrations to mark the birth of Jesus.
She went to her workplace at Bazz bar located at Ngomongo village in Mawanga estate of Bahati at around 9am where she did some cleaning duties before customers could start streaming in.
Half an hour later, a client identified as Benard Ngugi Mbau arrived at the club and, in the spirit of sharing Christmas generosity, invited Ms Wambui to his table.
After taking several bottles of booze while enjoying each other’s company for three hours, the two, who had already struck a rapport, left the pub together at around 12.30pm.
As fate would have it, this was to be the last time Ms Wambui would be seen alive as captured by the CCTV cameras at the pub.
What followed next was the shocking news of the discovery of her mutilated body stashed in a gunny bag at Mr Ngugi’s servant quarters later that evening.
Mr Ngugi’s boss Julianna Waihuni, who could not find her employee, is said to have found the body of the woman stashed in the sack after she went to look for him at his house.
According to a report by police investigating the case, Ms Waihuni wanted to collect gate keys from Mr Ngugi to lock her gate at around 9pm but could not find him so she decided to look for him at the house.
At the servant quarters, she knocked several times without getting a response. She then decided to push the door open but found no one inside.
She, however, noticed blood flowing from a gunny bag that was on the floor in the kitchen.
In dread, she screamed and called her neighbours and her grandson who responded to the distress call. They opened the sack only to be met with the sight of a mutilated body of a female.
She reported the incident at the Workers Police Patrol Base where police came and examined the scene. They established that the body was badly mutilated with some parts missing.
According to the Bahati sub-County Police Commander Lilies Wachira, the eyes were gouged out, the genitals were mutilated and the breast was badly severed. All these body parts were missing.
“The scene was documented and the body was taken to the Nakuru Annex Mortuary for preservation and to await identification and autopsy,” said Ms Wachira
In the meantime, the police launched a manhunt for Mr Ngugi after preliminary investigations linked him to the murder after he fled the scene and switched off his mobile phone.
He was arrested on December 27, two days after the horrific murder. He was flushed out of his hideout at Tumaini trading centre in Nyandarua County.
He was hiding in a house belonging to his lover Esther Njoki who was also picked up by police for interrogations.
The investigations, however, established that Ms Njoki had travelled to Ngomongo village on the said date and were seen together with Mr Ngugi.
Detectives now believe the two together with others could have been involved in Ms Wambui’s death.
When they produced the two before the court on Monday, police requested 21 days to conclude investigations into the murder case.
Appearing before Senior Resident Magistrate Emmanuel Soita, Corporal Vincent Langat, a detective attached to the homicide department of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation headquarters told the court that they wanted to conduct a forensic analysis on the suspect's mobile phones and analyse exhibits collected from the scene.
“The police also need to recover the deceased's missing body parts— eyeballs, mutilated genitals and conduct DNA tests,” he said.
Mr Langat further said he needed to conduct psychiatric examinations on the suspects before confirming their fitness to stand trial.
Expressing fears about the suspect's life, the detective said the matter had evoked immense public interest amidst heightened femicide cases in the country and the lovers’ lives may be in danger if they are released.
While opposing the application, Ms Njoki pleaded with the court to reduce the number of days in detention noting that she has two children aged 25 and 16 years.
The court, however, granted the police request and directed the matter to be mentioned on January 16.
