Former Icaciri Girls Secondary School principal Jane Muthoni and her co-accused Ms Isaac N'gan'ga alias Gikuyu at the Kiambu High Court on June 13, 2017. She is serving 30 years in jail for the murder of her husband Solomon Mwangi
Elizabeth Wanjiku, a police officer in Thika town, wanted her husband's lover Josephine Wambui dead.
In January 2008, Wanjiku confided in her sister Jane Njoki about her discomfort with the romantic relationship. She assigned Njoki to handle the situation discretely by getting people who could kill Wambui.
The man at the centre of the love triangle was a Chief Inspector of Police in Thika working with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Njoki got two hitmen, Charles Ngigi (a sand seller in Dandora, Nairobi) and another man identified in court papers as Karis to kill Wambui.
Wanjiku sent Sh30,000 to her sister’s bank account to pay the hitmen. Subsequently, the money was withdrawn at Equity Bank Kariobangi branch on January 25.
The phone communication between the two sisters started mid-January and, according to investigators, the execution meetings were disguised to look like a land transaction. Wanjiku posed as a land seller while Ngigi was “the broker tasked with finding a quick buyer”.
Njoki even took Ngigi to Wanjiku’s office at Thika Police Station, where he was shown the “land title deed”. He made a photocopy of the document and left.
Strong suspicion
"Nobody knows exactly what it is that Charles may have been discussing with the two ladies. There is only a strong suspicion that they may have been conspiring how Josephine was to be killed. Later, they were probably talking about how Wanjiku was to pay for the services rendered," said trial Judge Fred Ochieng, now a judge of the Court of Appeal.
Within five days, the contracted killers had done their job after accosting Wambui at her home in Makwa village, Gatundu North. They shot her twice on the chest and the left thigh. The January 30 night incident was witnessed by Wambui’s daughter who was aged 15 years at the time. Wambui succumbed to gunshot injuries hours later in hospital.
Jane Muthoni, who was convicted of killing her husband Solomon Mwangi.
Wambui’s daughter testified before Justice Ochieng that the killers accosted her mother outside the house while she was washing utensils near a water tank.
"One man walked straight towards the direction where she was, while the second man first paused briefly at the door to the kitchen," the daughter testified, adding that there was light near the water tank.
The witness looked directly at the suspect as she spoke, and the man also looked at her. The daughter said thereafter, the suspect walked towards the direction where her mother was and shot her on the leg. She fell on the ground. Next, the court heard, that the men shot Wambui in the chest and left the scene, leaving the young girl trembling in fear.
Using the mobile phone triangulation method, police investigators were able to pin Ngigi to the murder, leading to his arrest. After the trial, he was sentenced to death "for being hired as a hitman by Wambui's co-wife".
Detective George Ndegwa from Gatundu Police Station testified that after tracing telephone communications between Wanjiku and her sister, he discovered that the two ladies were in constant communication with an Airtel mobile phone number belonging to Ngigi during the time when Wambui was killed.
"The trail of calls showed that the accused communicated with a man named Karis on January 24, 25 and 30 2008. The accused also communicated with Wanjiku on January 31, 2008 and with her sister on February 1, 2 and 3, 2008. On February 3 and 4, 2008, the accused communicated with Wanjiku," the officer stated. He produced data call logs and bank transactions.
Ngigi was positively identified by Wambui's daughter — who witnessed the shooting incident — from an identification parade mounted by the investigator at the police station.
The officer also arrested Wanjiku but he released her on the instructions of his superiors.
So intriguing was the case that two months later while the prosecution of Ngigi was at pre-trial stage, Wanjiku was shot dead by unknown people at her home in Gatukuyu village. She was killed alongside her two sons on May 14, 2008.
This was before the investigator got direction from the Director of Public Prosecutions on whether or not Wanjiku, too, ought to have been charged with murder.
Another key prosecution witness in the trial was Mr Joseph Mururi, a brother to Wambui, who visited her in hospital immediately after the shooting and had a long conversation with her before she passed on.
On her deathbed, Wambui told her brother Mururi about the shooting. And when he asked her why someone would have wanted to shoot her, Wambui said that she knew that the two men had been sent by Wanjiku, her co-wife.
Refused to accept co-wife
Mururi testified that Wanjiku had refused to accept Wambui as a co-wife. He added that his sister had told him that Wanjiku had on many previous occasions provoked, abused and even beaten her in public. He told the court that his sister had informed him that Wanjiku had threatened to “finish her”.
As Ngigi continues serving time, the whereabouts of his accomplice, Karis, remain unknown.
Last week, he got a reprieve after the High Court reduced the death penalty to 35 years imprisonment, effective from the date of his arrest on February 25, 2008.
"I have examined the numerous factors pertinent to this case, including the mitigation arguments presented by Charles. However,I cannot overlook the particularly heinous manner in which the crime was executed," said Justice Caroline Kendagor.
"The trial court underscored that Charles was not merely an impulsive actor but had assumed the role of a hitman, engaging in a premeditated plan to carry out this violent act. This pre-planning involved deliberate choice and intent, highlighting the gravity of the offence committed," she added.
In mitigation, the hitman, through his advocate, expressed remorse and sought forgiveness from Wambui’s family.
Ngigi’s case is among many others involving hitmen hired by angry spouses or lovers when love gets sour.
In Eldoret, a woman is under prosecution for the murder of her husband in April last year. She was charged alongside three men that she allegedly hired for the job.
Ms Nancy Wangu is charged alongside Mr Stephen Kariuki, John Gachihi and Daniel Muriuki. They are accused of killing Paul Gitau Njenga on the night of April 9 and 10, 2024 at Burnt Forest Township, in Ainabkoi.
Police Constable Edwin Chirchir Yego, while opposing their release on bail, swore an affidavit stating, "Ms Wangu hired Mr Kariuki, Mr Gachihi and Mr Muriuki as hitmen to murder Njenga and make it look like he was missing".
Body in gunny bag
He said investigations revealed that the alleged hitmen murdered Njenga in his house, placed the body in a gunny bag and took it to the house of one of the suspects on a motorbike. The body was later dumped in Timboroa Forest.
"Njenga was a well-known and beloved member of the society. The news of his gruesome murder at the hands of his wife and assassins has caused an uproar in the community, therefore, in the event that the accused are released on bail/ bond, there is a high likelihood that they will be put in harms’ way by the members of the community," said the police officer.
Justice Emily Ominde, in a ruling dated November 4, 2024, agreed with the investigator and held that there were sufficiently compelling reasons to warrant the denial of bond to the accused persons.
We traced another case of a Nairobi woman named Jane Wambui, who was charged with conspiracy to kill her estranged husband, Michael Muragu, in November 2008 following alleged marital problems.
Jane informed a friend that she was thinking of eliminating her husband after their marital problems became unbearable. She asked him to participate in the mission but he refused and told her he could not as this went against his Christian ideals.
Jane asked the friend to look for someone who would carry out the murder. He “agreed”, but instead informed Muragu about the plan to kill him. The two then set up an elaborate plan by hiring a police officer as the would-be hitman.
Jane met the “hitman”, and after agreeing to pay Sh60,000 for her estranged husband’s elimination, she provided information about where he could be found. The details included Muragu’s movements and his car registration number.
The prosecution’s case was that Jane and another person conspired to find an assassin who would kill her estranged husband.
The prosecution adduced five witnesses including the would-be hit man, Peter Oduor, who testified that after the deal was sealed he was given Muragu’s phone number and photograph.
He testified that after informing Jane that they were to follow the man to Murang'a to carry out the murder, they reported the matter at Kilimani Police Station leading to the arrest of the woman.
Jane was sentenced to two years imprisonment in April 2011 but was later released on appeal by the High Court since her co-accused had been acquitted by the trial court. High Court Judge Grace Ngenye-Macharia found the accused could not have conspired with herself, "which is both ridiculous and untenable".
Solomon Mbuthi Mwangi, the slain principal of Kiiru Boys High School in Murang'a County.
In another case, former Icaciri Girls’ High School principal Jane Muthoni is serving 30 years in jail for the murder of her husband Solomon Mwangi Mbuthi, who was principal at Kiru Boys High School.
She was sentenced in June 2021 alongside the hired killer, Isaac Ng'ang'a, alias Gikuyu for the November 6, 2016 murder.
Analysis of the evidence presented at trial showed that the killing of Mbuthi was principally instigated by his wife Jane, who procured Ng'ang'a to execute the homicide pursuant to an agreement where she promised to pay for the killing.
The prosecution theory was that Jane became disenchanted with what she suspected was her husband’s infidelity with a certain woman referred to as MWK (or “Mpesa Lady”).
After initial attempts to eliminate Ms MWK by murder by hired killers, the Prosecution theory goes, Jane conspired with a man identified as Nelson Njiru and enlisted the assistance of Ng'ang'a and Joseph Njuguna to kill her husband. Njiru is still a fugitive.
Jane was the author of the murder plot and likely administered the Xylamine drug that rendered Mbuthi intoxicated hence more vulnerable to the strangulation, and delivered him for the eventual strangulation.
"It is clear from the evidence adduced at trial that Jane was the instigator of the plan to murder Mbuthi. As the author of the plan, she entered into an agreement with Ng'ang'a and Joseph Njuguna (a Prosecution witness) to carry out her intention to murder," said the trial judge Joel Ngugi, now a judge of the Court of Appeal.
jwangui@ke.nationmedia.com
