A man told a court he helped to hire two hitmen to kill a Nyeri businessman’s son, mistakenly thinking they were casual labourers meant to work at a stone-crushing site.
Testifying before Justice Martin Muya, Embu-based trader Geoffrey Warutumo said he was asked to identify men to work at Stephen Wang’ondu’s business in Mweiga town.
He said he was contacted by James Mahinda, Mr Wang’ondu’s driver, to get him workers who would be tasked with disciplining errant employees.
Mr Wang’ondu was charged with orchestrating the killing of his son on the night of January 1, 2021, in Mweiga, but he died in May 2021, as the court proceedings were going on. He had been released on a Sh1 million bond.
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Mr Warutumo was released last year after the court established that he did not take part in the murder in Nyeri as he did not leave Embu that day.
In his testimony on Tuesday, Mr Warutumo said that Mr Mahinda, his long-time friend, called him on the phone on December 29, 2020, asking him to get him workers.
“It was then that I called Ngari, whom I knew as my customer, and informed him of the job opportunity,” Mr Warutumo told the court, adding that he contacted Mr Ngari because he knew that he had been looking for employment for a while.
Raphael Wachira (right) and Eddy Ngari appear before High Court in Nyeri on November 29, 2022. The two are facing a murder charge for killing Nyeri tycoon Stephen Wang'ondu's son, Daniel Mwangi in January 2021.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
At one time, he heard Mr Mahinda tell the two that they would be paid Sh100,000 if they accepted the job offer.
The prosecution in its evidence said that after killing Mr Mwangi, the two hitmen gave Mr Mahinda Sh8,000 out of the Sh100,000 they were paid to pass to Mr Warutumo.
Mr Warutumo heard from Mr Mahinda in February 2021 when he asked him to look for Mr Wachira and Mr Ngari and ask them to switch off their phones because the police were after them.
Mr Mahinda, who also testified yesterday, said Mr Wang’ondu asked him to hire men on his behalf to punish his son, whom he said was disturbing him.
Mr Mahinda said he went to look for the two men because his employer had become persistent, saying he was determined to punish his son.
He said he visited Mr Wang’ondu at his stone-crushing site, where he spent most of his time, and informed him about it.
“I knew this because I drove him to the regional commander’s office in Nyeri town several times and the insurance company to present the postmortem results,” Mr Mahinda said.
“There is a possibility that the state witness was paid to give evidence against the main suspect, who unfortunately is now dead and cannot defend himself,” said Mr Ndichu.
