Naftali Kinuthia who hit the headlines in 2019 after traveling from Nairobi to Eldoret to axe his girlfriend over claims that she refused to pick calls has been jailed for 40 years.
Kinuthia, 33, was found guilty on October 26. The murder that occurred outside Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital on the morning of April 9, 2019.
During the judgemt delivered on December 14, the judge noted that Kinuthia Kinuthia had malice aforethought and bought a new axe to kill the student in broad daylight.
“If he had no intention to kill, he had the opportunity to attack the victim using his bare fist. But he had an axe and a knife and used the axe, a lethal and dangerous weapon, to strike the medical student,” the judge said
He added that, “There are other smaller axes with wooden handles. The accused had a metal axe with a metal handle and claimed that he had it in his car for security reasons. I do not agree with him,”
The court further dismissed Kinuthia’s claim that he was in an intimate relationship with Wangeci, citing a 400-page cybercrime report that showed no evidence of an intimate relationship, only friendly communication.
“The accused claimed that his case was a matter of provocation and heat of passion. But the court notes the two were not lovers and were not married. They were just old friends,” the judge said.
Kinuthia had testified that the two had been lovers since 2018. He claimed that their relationship had begun years ago when they were in school, and that he had spent time and money, but Wangeci ignored him.
