A shylock yesterday positively identified Robert Waliaula Kinisu as the man who sold off the property of a woman days after her mysterious murder in Mombasa’s Mtwapa township.
Mr Hamisi Mohamed said last year, Mr Kinisu visited his business premise located in Mtwapa and asked for money to help take his wife to hospital.
In exchange, Mr Kinisu deposited a blender, iron box, Juice mixer, and a toaster.
The items were confirmed to have been stolen from Ms Jacqueline Ngina Kitheka’s house after she was murdered and her body hidden in a wardrobe.
“It was at about 8;30 pm and he said he needed the money urgently. Since I had no cash, I sent him 1,550 via Mpesa,” he told Justice Ann Ongi’injo, who is handling the murder case facing Mr Kinisu.
When he sent the money, the name that appeared after the mobile transaction was Brown Kipande.
“He had not identified himself so I knew him as Mr Kipande,”Mr Mohamed told the court.
After several days, Mr Kinisu returned with more electronics and he was given Sh2,020 explaining that more money was needed at the hospital.
“After three weeks, I was shocked when police officers knocked on my door. They told me I was required at the Mtwapa police station to record a statement and I was first questioned about the Mpesa transaction,” he said.
Mr Mohamed further explained that when he arrived at the police station, he was locked up in the cells for two days.
“On the second day, Kinisu was arrested and brought to the station. It was then that I discovered his real name is Kinisu and not Kipande as I had known him,” he said.
The court was told that the suspect allegedly murdered the woman and concealed her body in a wardrobe at her residence before taking off with her valuables including her mobile phones.
At the time of her murder, Ms Kitheka who was a businesswoman was planning to marry her British fiancé.
The court has been told that the suspect attacked the woman at her residence in the Marina area in Mtwapa, killed her, and concealed her body which was discovered ithree days later.
The state alleges that the suspect committed the murder between May 3 and 6, this year.
Another witness, Ruth Wairiru who works as a receptionist at Maya Lodge Guest House said Kinisu visited the facility and requested to book a room.
“Since there was no space because guests had not checked out, I told him to come later after 10 am. He wanted a room on the first floor and located at one of the corners of the building,” she said.
According to the witness, the suspect asked where he could be allowed to leave his traveling bag. “I ordered him to open it so that I can check its content. It had clothes,” she said.
“After several minutes, police officers arrived at the guest house and demanded that I hand over the bag, which I did. I then accompanied the police to the station where I found Kinisu handcuffed. I was told that the bag and its contents belonged to a deceased woman,” she said.
Investigations conducted by Diba Halake revealed that Kinisu accessed the woman’s premises, and murdered her before taking off with her belongings.
Mr Kinisu is still remanded at Shimo La Tewa prison after Mr Halake informed the court that he is a flight risk, has no fixed abode, and had schemed to escape to Uganda at the time of his arrest.
According to the officer, Kinisu is a man of questionable character, violent, and with loose community ties.
At the time of her murder, the woman is said to have been in the process of relocating to her home in Machakos to concentrate on agricultural projects that she had set up at her rural home. Police have also discovered that he did not have any relationship with the deceased at the time of her murder.
He was in 2018 sentenced to death for violently robbing and killing Mombasa-based model Janet Adhiambo Asuna at her Kizingo residence.
He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death by a magistrate court but was acquitted by the High Court in 2019 on appeal after serving one-year imprisonment.
He was acquitted despite the evidence confirming he had withdrawn Sh26, 600 from the deceased’s M-pesa account in three outlets days after she was murdered.
He was charged that on June 7, 2016, he robbed Ms Asuna a cellphone, sandwich toaster, an iron box, and a mobile charger valued at 19,500 and during the time of robbery used personal violence and killed her.
