A former United States University (USIU) student accused of kidnapping and killing a fellow student 14 years ago has been found guilty of murder.
High Court Judge Kanyi Kimondo ruled that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Dancun Livingstone Kimathi murdered Sarah Aruwa Akello, a final-year International Relations student at the university.
Sarah disappeared on June 30, 2012, after leaving her room to meet a man she had met at the university library.
What followed was a series of threatening phone calls and ransom demands to her family before the tragic discovery of her body in Ngewa, Githunguri, Kiambu County.
“From what I have stated in the preceding paragraphs coupled with the electronic and call data evidence, I am fully satisfied that the accused was positively identified as the person who lured and abducted the deceased on 30/6/2012, demanded a ransom, issued threats to kill the deceased in default of payment and that he, together with other persons not before the court, strangled the deceased to death,” Justice Kimondo said.
Winnie Wairimu Kariuki and Dancun Livingstone Kimathi at Milimani Law Courts in February 2014 when they were charged that between June 30, 2012 and July 1, 2012, at Kiamiako Area, Githunguri, Kiambu County they murdered Sarah Akello Aruwa.
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The judge dismissed his defence, finding that his conduct was inconsistent with his claim of innocence and alibi. The court held that Sarah died as a direct consequence of his unlawful actions and that the “entire corpus of direct, circumstantial, electronic and documentary evidence points irresistibly to his guilt”.
During cross-examination, Kimathi admitted that he had previously been charged and convicted in a Makadara court for abducting a girl in 2012.
Although he denied ever being a student at USIU, the court found overwhelming evidence linking him to the crime.
“To start with, the accused had access to the USIU campus and an opportunity to lure the deceased into his trap. Furthermore, the deceased was living off-campus in a one-bedroom unit only five minutes away from USIU,” the judge said.
Evidence showed that Sarah had noted in her notebook that she was going to meet a man identified as Daniel Mureithi, whom she had met at the library, and wrote down an unregistered mobile phone number.
The court, however, found that the use of a false identity and an unregistered phone line pointed to a premeditated plan.
“It would then be foolhardy to expect him to provide his true bona fides to the deceased. But technology has a way to catch up with people. I deduce that he exchanged his telephone contacts with the deceased which she wrote down in the notebook,” Justice Kimondo said.
The judge added that, based on the timeline of Sarah’s disappearance and the electronic evidence presented, the unregistered line was being used either by Kimathi or his accomplices.
Before she disappeared, Sarah had confided in her friend Ivy Gathu that she was going out to meet a man she had met at the university library.
Her mother, Hellen Aruwa, told the court that she received a call from a man using Sarah’s mobile phone and demanding Sh100,000 in ransom, threatening to kill her daughter if the money was not paid.
The caller made further demands the following day while Ms Aruwa was in the company of a relative, Jim Onyango. The family eventually negotiated the amount down to Sh70,000.
Winnie Wanjiru Kariuki appeared at the Milimani Law Courts on November 19, 2014. She is charged with murdering Sarah Akello Aruwa in July 2012. A witness told the court that Ms Aruwa may have had a premonition about her death.
Photo credit: File | Nation
A few days later, Sarah’s body was found dumped in a thicket in Kiambu. A post-mortem examination established that she had been strangled to death.
Kimathi's co-accused, Winnie Wairimu Kariuki, jumped bail during the trial and efforts to trace and arrest her have been unsuccessful.
In convicting Kimathi, Justice Kimondo said the prosecution had presented a compelling combination of direct, circumstantial, electronic and documentary evidence linking him to Sarah's abduction and murder.
