Police seeking to resolve the murder of the husband of Jubilee politician Gladys Chania have turned to the whereabouts of a worker who also disappeared at the same time that George Mwangi was found dead.
John Mwangi, a farmhand working for Mr Mwangi, who was found murdered and his body dumped in Kieni Forest, Gatundu North, Kiambu, has not been traced.
The mystery of John’s disappearance has deepened after his clothes and mobile phones were found at Mangu, the matrimonial home of the couple. Police say they have made no headway in tracing him and do not know whether the worker is alive or dead.
The farmhand had worked for Mr Mwangi for many years and the same night he disappeared (Saturday night last week), he was supposed to hand over to a new farmhand who had been sourced by Ms Chania.
The new farmhand Ms Chania had hired has now been identified as Mr Maurice Mbugua and is in police custody, assisting them with investigations. Detectives have also said that Ms Chania is a suspect in the murder of her husband.
Detectives investigating the matter told the Nation that both Ms Chania and Mr Mbugua have denied killing Mr Mwangi during the interrogation.
Police at the home of Mr George Mwangi, who was murdered. They have arrested his wife, Ms Chania.
Photo credit: Raphael Njoroge | Nation Media Group
But Ms Chania admission to police after the body of her husband was discovered on Wednesday evening that Mr Mwangi walked downstairs from their matrimonial home in Mangu last Sunday morning never to return raised more questions than answers given that police found blood-soaked bed sheets as well as curtains and clothes hidden in a locked room next to the master bedroom.
On Friday, neighbours told the Nation that Ms Chania rarely came to their matrimonial home in Mangu after differing with her husband. Instead, she lived in Thika and police are questioning her motive for the visit.
Kiambu police commander Perminus Kioi told reporters that preliminary investigations show that Mr Mwangi was killed inside his house in Mangu and his body ferried into Kieni forest.
“All the circumstances under which the deceased met his death point to that he was killed inside his house and his body ferried to the forest. We have recovered some of the weapons that were used in the murder including the motor vehicle,’’ Mr Kioi said.
Even as this happens, it has emerged that the people who murdered Mr Mwangi may have trailed him together with his mistress, Ms Lucy Muthoni, from his matrimonial home in Mangu (Gatundu north) all the way to Kimunyu (Gatundu South) and back.
Mr Mwangi , a trained engineer and contractor who owns Double M International in Kigali Rwanda left his Mangu house at noon and later linked up with his long-time friend John Waiganjo and later joined Ms Muthoni.
They converged at Wamuguthuko village, Gatundu North in Kimunyu where they were gracing an event to celebrate the life of a local elder identified as Mr Samuel Mwangi, who had hit 90 years.
The trio left Wamuguthuko for Kimunyu shopping centre at around 6pm where the deceased took one bottle of beer.
Mr Mwangi together with Ms Muthoni bid goodbye to Mr Waiganjo at around 8pm and t left for Mangu. They used his motor vehicle.
What happened after he arrived home in Mangu at around 9.30pm and dropped Ms Muthoni, who is a next door neighbour, renting one of his houses is what detectives are probing.
Yesterday, Mr Waiganjo did not contradict the police report that he was with the deceased last week on Saturday together with Ms Muthoni.
“George was a generous person. We schooled together at Wamitaa Primary in Kiambu and last week on Saturday we spent the better part of the afternoon and evening in Kimunyu and he left for home with Ms Muthoni. I can tell you the killers have taken away a good man,’’ Mr Waiganjo said.
One of Mr Mwangi's elder sisters who sought not to be named said his brother had a troubled marriage. The last conversation he had with him was on Friday last week when he called her and informed her that she was having issues with the wife Ms Chania.
“He sounded disturbed and we talked for less than two minutes. What I remember him telling me is that . ‘I am just depressed and I feel like I am close to my death,’’
On Friday evening, detectives investigating the matter said a love triangle was at the centre of the murder.
