Embu wife-killer to face the hangman’s noose

EMBU: The shrieking sound of a one-year-old baby crying relentlessly, tore through the early morning that ended what had been a dark, overcast and cold night in Kirigi village, Embu County.

The child's mother, JoyAnn Wanja, lay lifeless on the bed bleeding from the nose and mouth, having been strangled using a smooth ligature with no sign of a struggle.

That was October 18, 2008.

As the half covered body of the deceased lay motionless in the one-roomed rental house, the baby's father John Bosco Njeru was purportedly making a report of his wife's natural death at Manyatta Police Station.

The door of the house had been locked from outside with a padlock.

Neighbours who were drawn to the scene by the baby's cry alerted their landlady, Alice Muthoni, who arrived shortly thereafter accompanied by Harrison Kiragu, a village elder.

Mr Kiragu then called the OCS, Manyatta Police Station, and informed him about the incident.

Moments after the house door was broken down following instructions from the OCS, Mr Njeru arrived at the compound, sat down and started weeping.

His explanation that he had come from reporting the matter at the police station did little to assuage the wrath of neighbours who nearly lynched him had police not whisked him away in time.

Later on, Njeru was arraigned before the High Court in Embu where he pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

A dozen witnesses testified that Njeru was the last person to be seen with his late wife a few hours before her death.

FATEFUL NIGHT

"I personally saw the couple in their house that evening up until 8pm when I retired to bed," said Jerusha Wanjiru, the couple's next door neighbour.

Another neighbour, Catherine Muthoni, recalled fetching water with the deceased at a shared tap within the compound before the two went separately into their houses at around 6:30pm.

Others maintained that the couple stayed indoors the entire day prior to the fateful night and that Njeru never left the house in the evening.

In his defense, Njeru claimed to have been away from home when his wife was killed in cold blood.

"On coming back, I found that my wife had died. I immediately reported the matter to the police and then returned home where I found many people," he said, adding that the police gave him a note authorising him to take the deceased's body to the mortuary.

The court, satisfied by the evidence given, convicted and sentenced Njeru to death. He however, launched an appeal at the Court of Appeal.

Appearing before the appellate court, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Job Kaigai dispelled Njeru's claims that he was not home saying evidence placed him squarely at the scene of crime.

In their ruling, justices Philip Waki, Roselyn Nambuye, and Patrick Kiage, sitting in Nyeri, wondered why Njeru made no attempt to explain why his wife, who the evening before was alive and well, ended up dying in a house locked from outside.

They dismissed the appeal and upheld the death sentence.