23-year-old Embu man who killed girlfriend jailed for seven years

Dennis Munene, who killed Rosemary Nyaga. [Muriithi Mugo, Standard]

A 23-year-old man who killed his girlfriend and tried to die by suicide will serve seven years in prison.

Dennis Munene killed nurse Rosemary Nyaga, 39.

He committed the offence on June 10 at Kavaruka village in Kithimu location of Embu West.

Munene faced a second charge of trying to die by suicide. The charge was reduced to manslaughter after plea bargaining with the state.

In mitigation, he said he was remorseful, apologetic, and regretted his actions, which he felt he should have handled better.

Court documents indicate the two were in a relationship where they constantly fought and efforts to separate them were futile.

A postmortem report indicated Nyaga died as a result of strangulation with possible drugging.

Munene a casual labourer and miraa trader tried to kill himself by ingesting poison.

"Having looked at the circumstances, I consider the mitigation but an innocent life was lost in the incident, the victim assessment report is not favourable to the accused. He is therefore sentenced to serve seven-year imprisonment," High Court Judge Lucy Njuguna said.