Woman found guilty of stabbing husband to death

Justice Reuben Nyakundi found Winnie Wangari Maina guilty of murder. [iStockphoto]

The High Court in Eldoret has set sentencing date for a 37-year-old woman who was found guilty of murdering her husband in cold blood.

Justice Reuben Nyakundi of the High Court in Eldoret found Winnie Wangari Maina guilty of stabbing Wycliffe Miriti, 33, to death at their Elgon View home in Eldoret three years ago after a night of partying.

The judge noted that the prosecution led by counsel Mark Mugun had proved its case through a series of circumstantial evidence that Wangari committed the crime on August 22, 2022.

He rejected the accused's defense that she was provoked into committing the crime by the deceased saying the evidence presented in court proved that she intentionally terminated her spouse’s life.

“When the night guard rushed to the couple's house following a distress call, he was turned away by the accused person who told him "go away so that I finish this man." At the time, the accused was sitting on the deceased, while holding a knife,” the judge said.

Justice Nyakundi further said that by targeting the victim’s heart, Wangari had shown clearly that her intention was to end Miriti’s life.

“If indeed you had no intention of ending your husband’s life, you would have targeted other parts of his body like the leg or hand because that could have given him a chance for survival. But you aimed for his heart and stabbed deeply,” he held.

The court consequently cancelled Wangari's bond.

“Today you will not go back home as I have cancelled your bond. You will be remanded at the Eldoret GK Women Remand Prison until June 3 when the mitigation and sentencing will be done,” said Justice Nyakundi.

Mugun, the lead prosecution counsel had earlier lined up more than 10 witnesses among them the couple’s landlord, a police officer attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation Department and a G4S security guard who testified against Wangari linking her to her husband’s murder.

She had denied killing Miriti who was a senior logistics officer at an international beverage company based in Eldoret.

According to the police report, the accused rushed her husband who was in critical condition to the hospital in the family car but he succumbed to three knife stabs upon arrival at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.

A security officer at Elgon View estate where the couple resided told detectives that the duo arrived at their house from a local pub at around 4.30 am on the fateful Monday morning before a fight ensued.

Geoffrey Rono narrated how he drove to the couple's house after the landlord raised the alarm.

“We drove to the couple’s home and found a car leaving at a high speed heading in the opposite direction which we later learned was being driven by the accused who was rushing her husband to the hospital,” said Rono.

He said that they were forced to follow the car and found it parked at a private hospital in Eldoret town.

Rono told the court that while at the hospital, he helped the accused to put the deceased in a wheelchair before they were referred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital where he succumbed to the stab wounds.

The investigating officer Mercy Kathure recalled how she recorded a statement from a security officer who entered the couple’s house and found the accused sitting on her husband with a knife which is an exhibit in the murder case.

The sentencing is scheduled for June 3.