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CIG officer displays a blood-stained knife that was allegedly used to kill Scarlet Wahu at a short-term rental apartment in South B, Nairobi. Inset: Wahu.
A government analyst has told the High Court that forensic evidence links secular artist John Matara to the murder of socialite Starlet Wahu.
Ms Emily Okworo, a scientist at the Government Chemist, testified that blood samples recovered from an Airbnb apartment in South B were consistent with those taken from Wahu’s body.
She also said semen extracted from a used condom found at the scene matched Matara’s DNA profile.
Wahu was the youngest sister of Nairobi pastor Victor Kanyari.
Starlet Wahu Mwangi whose body was found at an apartment in South B, Nairobi. Inset: Her relative Pastor Victor Kanyari.
Ms Okworo told the Milimani High Court judge that she conducted DNA analysis on several exhibits, including a kitchen knife and a white towel, both stained with blood.
“After examining the samples, I concluded that the blood on the knife and towel belonged to Starlet Wahu,” she said.
Prosecutor Dela Wilbey asked the analyst to explain her findings.
“The stains were confirmed to be human blood and the DNA profile generated was consistent with that of the deceased,” Ms Okworo told the court.
She added that the condom submitted for analysis contained semen matching the accused.
John Matara before Milimani law courts on February 10, 2026 during the hearing of a murder case against him. He was charged with the murder Starlet Wahu, a socialite and the younger sister of pastor Victor Kanyari who was found brutally murdered in a short-stay apartment in South B, Nairobi, on January 4, 2024.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyers Samuel Ayora and James Mochere, Ms Okworo said she also detected traces of blood matching Matara’s profile on some of the specimens.
The defence suggested that this could indicate Matara may have been injured during the incident.
Mr Ayora also raised questions about blood belonging to an unidentified person that was forwarded to the laboratory.
Ms Okworo responded that investigators indicated the sample had been collected near the main gate, not inside the room where Wahu was found.
The prosecution produced several items recovered from Papino Apartments, including the blood-stained knife, the towel, a pair of women’s shoes and a bra.
A police officer who visited the scene described it as horrifying, telling the court that the deceased appeared to have been brutally attacked.
“This is the weapon we recovered from the apartment,” the officer said while presenting the knife.
A blood-stained white towel retrieved from the apartment where Starlet Wahu was brutally murdered on January 3, 2024.
The court also heard from Mr Joseph Ndung’u, a security guard at an apartment opposite the scene, who testified that he saw Matara leaving the building wearing blood-stained khaki trousers.
He said the accused had a towel draped around his neck and was also wearing a black cap.
Matara, who remains in custody, denied killing Wahu on the night of January 3, 2024.
The hearing continues.
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