Woman admits she hired hitmen twice to kill ‘unfaithful’ husband

Faith Wairimu at Milimani Law Courts where she admitted hiring hitmen to kill her husband John Muthee at Zimmerman Estate in Nairobi. [Photo: Evans Habil/Standard]

By Isaiah Lucheli

Nairobi, Kenya: A narration of a chilling plot by a woman who hired hitmen to kill her husband of 15 years Wednesday stunned a Nairobi court.

Investigating officers told the court how Faith Wairimu Maina paid the ‘hitmen’ a down payment of Sh40,000 and demanded for the bloodstained clothes of her husband to confirm his death before completing the Sh160,000 balance.

It also emerged in court that this was the second time that the woman, who runs a kiosk in Nairobi’s Zimmerman area, was attempting to have her husband, John Muthee, killed after an earlier mission flopped. The would-be assassins developed cold feet despite having parted with Sh40,000.

Muthee is a businessman who sells macadamia. Wairimu pleaded guilty to hatching the plot to kill the father of her two children and paying the money when she was arraigned before Principal Magistrate Patrick Ndegwa.

According to prosecutor Karuri Thuku, the accused schemed to eliminate Muthee for allegedly having an extra-marital affair with a woman named Njeri Wambaa.

The court heard that in an attempt to achieve her plan, she roped in one Mama Kevo whose duty was to scout for and hire a hit squad whose sole duty was to murder Muthee.

After being assigned her duty, Mama Kevo began her search and approached one Wilson Mwangi to link her up with individuals who could execute the job. However, unbeknown to Mama Kevo, her pointman (Mwangi) was a police informer.

Mwangi reported the matter to the officer in-charge of Flying Squad as soon as he parted ways with the woman. Three officers, namely Peter Nderitu, Joseph Lagat and Moses Gitwamba, were assigned to investigate the allegation and took over the role of the hitmen by getting in touch with Wairimu.

The magistrate was told that the police informer told the accused through Mama Kevo that he had managed to get the assassins who would do the job perfectly. The three ‘assassins’ agreed they be introduced to the accused at her food kiosk in Zimmerman the following day where she disclosed that she had tried to kill her husband earlier but failed.

To ensure that her mission did not flop a second time, she demanded to know if the ‘hitmen’ were armed and one of them showed her his official pistol.

After negotiating and agreeing on Monday (June 17) on how the business would be conducted, she paid them Sh40,000 through the mobile money transfer system, Mpesa, and promised to pay the balance of Sh160,000 after they accomplished the mission.

Husband’s number

She sent an SMS to the officers giving her husband’s mobile phone number so that they could lure him out of the house and accomplish the job. On the material day, the officers called Muthee as the accused had instructed, posing as customers for macadamia but he did not leave the house.

On Tuesday this week in the morning the accused called the ‘hitmen’ and informed them that she was in the company of her husband near Equity Bank in Zimmerman.

They instead went with Muthee to Kasarani Police Station where what was being planned behind his back was exposed when the officers spoke with his wife on telephone. An officer took the jacket Muthee was wearing, soaked it in blood in a nearby butchery and delivered it to the accused where she paid the balance before being apprehended.

In mitigation, Wairimu said she was the sole provider of her family and was in an abusive marriage. She sought the court’s forgiveness.The ruling will be on June 28.