Bishop Muiru's mother, daughter-in-law were locked in dispute, court told

Pastor Pius Muiru wife Lucy. [Courtesy, Standard]

Grace Wangari, 75, mother of televangelist Bishop Pius Muiru and her daughter-in-law Monica Muthoni were locked in a bitter row, a witness told the court.

Testifying in a murder case against Muthoni and a farmhand, Bishop Muiru’s wife, Lucy, told Justice Kanyi Kimondo that there was a deep misunderstanding between her mother-in-law Wangari and her sister-in-law Muthoni.

Lucy told the court that because of the dispute, she travelled regularly to Karega village in Kigumo, Murang’a County, in a bid to reconcile the two. She said she had been tasked by the larger family to arbitrate the matter.

Lucy, who is also a bishop, recounted how she received a call from her husband on March 22, 2017, while in Mombasa, on the alleged disappearance of Wangari.

“I immediately called Muthoni who resided in the same compound with Wangari, and she told me that our mother-in-law had left early in the morning but I was not satisfied with the answer,” she said.

She told the court that she had visited the matriarch a few days earlier before she joined her husband at Saba Saba Market where Maximum Miracle Church had a crusade.

“I regularly reminded her that Wangari was our mother-in-law and her counsel should be listened to,” she told the court during cross-examination by Muthoni’s lawyer.

“I vividly recall the last day I spent with her. We had a good time as we prepared lunch that we took together with my assistants,” said Lucy.

Security guard Ezekiel Saitambua and Monica Muthomi, the daughter in law to the late Grace Wangari Mwangi. [Boniface Gikandi, Standard]

Muthoni, 40, and a security guard-cum-farmhand Ezekiel Saitambua Nakola, 37, have been charged with jointly murdering Wangari at Karega village, on March 22, 2017.

In her testimony, Lucy did not disclose what the dispute between Wangari and Muthoni was about even when pressed by the defence and the judge.

“The whole family is aware what the dispute was about,” is all she told the court.

Muthoni who lived at home with Saitambua and the matriarch was married to Bishop Muiru’s younger brother Mathew Waweru who runs a transport business.

Earlier, Chief Inspector of Police Stephen Mwangi revealed that on March 22, 2017, a missing person report was made at Kigumo Police Station by Mathew Wainaina, a son of the deceased.

Wangari had reportedly gone missing two days before the report was made.

“At around 11pm, Wainaina came back to the police station and reported a new development, that his mother’s mobile phone had recently bought Sh95 worth of airtime that was sent to Ezekiel Saitambua, the guard who is also a suspect in the case,” said Mwangi. 

Later, Saitambua revealed that he had murdered the woman and buried her in a shallow grave near the cowshed, said Mwangi.

The hearing continues on February 22, 2022.