The High Court in Eldoret has sentenced Naftali Kinuthia, the main suspect in the murder of Moi University student Ivy Wangeci, to 40 years in prison.
Justice Stephen Githinji found Kinuthia guilty of committing the crime on April 9, 2019, outside the premises of the university.
He noted that the offence committed on an innocent soul was harsh and deserved severe punishment.
The prosecution team had pleaded for the death penalty against the convict, but the judge declined the plea, explaining that the court could not accept the idea of retaliation when giving its verdict.
Earlier in the year, Kinuthia had confessed to the murder, attributing the motive to anger issues.
He explained that Wangeci had provoked him by leaving their relationship for another person.
According to Kinuthia, he had invested in the relationship, both emotionally and financially, but his love was not reciprocated.
During a court session in October, Justice Githinji dismissed Kinuthia’s defence, stating that there was no sufficient evidence to ascertain that they were in a sexual relationship.
The prosecution team provided text messages, which, according to the judge, did not provide evidence of an intimate relationship.
Before her demise, Wangeci was pursuing medicine at Moi University. Preliminary reports indicated that Kinuthia left Nairobi for Eldoret, armed with a knife and an axe and requested to meet her out of class.
Eyewitnesses added he hacked her to death while at the same time slitting her throat.
“I forever regret the death of Ivy. She was innocent. There are so many ways we could have resolved our differences. I was not happy when the deceased told me, through her close friend, that she did not love me because I was too short,” Kinuthia confessed to murdering Wangeci.
By BRIAN KIMANI
Source-https://www.kenyans.co.ke/
Ivy Wangeci’s Killer Naftali Kinuthia Jailed For 40 Years
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