NAIROBI, Kenya- A former USIU-Africa student has been sentenced to death for murdering fellow student Sarah Akello Aruwa after she was lured to a meeting, abducted and held for ransom.
Justice Kanyi Kimondo sentenced 37-year-old Duncan Livingstone Kimathi after finding that he murdered Aruwa between June 30 and July 1, 2012, in Kiamako, Githunguri, Kiambu County.
The prosecution, led by Millicent Kigira, called 17 witnesses during the trial.
The court found that Kimathi and accomplices had lured Aruwa before abducting her and demanding money from her family.
Justice Kimondo concluded that the evidence established malice aforethought.
Aruwa was a final-year International Relations student at USIU-Africa.
On the day she disappeared, she told a friend she was going to meet a man she had encountered at the university library.
Family received ransom demands
Aruwa’s mother, Hellen Atieno Aruwa, told the court that a man called her using her daughter’s phone and demanded Sh100,000 for her release.
She negotiated the amount down to Sh70,000 before reporting the abduction at Kasarani Police Station.
Aruwa’s boyfriend also testified that when he called her phone, a man answered and demanded that Sh100,000 be sent to her mobile money account as ransom.
The court heard that Aruwa had written in her notebook that she planned to meet a person identified as Daniel Muriithi and had recorded his phone number.
However, the court found Kimathi did not know Muriithi and concluded that the name had been used as part of a plan to lure her.
The High Court previously found Kimathi guilty of murder after considering the prosecution evidence, including telephone and call data.
Evidence linked accused to killing
Investigators recovered Aruwa’s bra, underwear and a blood-stained top from a house in Savannah where Kimathi’s girlfriend, Wairimu, lived.
The second accused in the case later absconded after being released on bail, and the court ordered the trial to proceed in her absence.
A post-mortem examination found a laceration at the back of Aruwa’s head and bruises on her neck.
Her tongue was protruding from her mouth.
The cause of death was determined to be neck compression through manual strangulation.
The court found that Aruwa had been deliberately lured into a trap for abduction and ransom before she was killed.
Kimathi was convicted of murder under sections 203 and 204 of the Penal Code and sentenced to death.
