Woman displays threatening text messages during trial of slain Kiru principal's wife

Slain Kiru Principal Solomon Mwangi's wife Jane Muthoni

An M-Pesa shop attendant Wednesday told the High Court in Kiambu that the wife of the slain Kiru Boys High School Principal Solomon Mwangi had threatened her many times over an alleged love affair.

While denying having an affair with Mwangi, the woman displayed in court text messages sent to her by Jane Muthoni warning her to keep off the husband.

The 28-year-old woman, whose identity the prosecution declined to disclose because she is a protected witness, told the trial Judge Joel Ngugi that Mwangi was only 'my good customer'

At the same time, the court heard from a pathologist that the principal died of strangulation.

In her testimony yesterday, the shop attendant narrated how the slain principal would on a daily basis transact huge sums of money through her shop, some as high as Sh140,000 in a day.

The woman told the court the slain teacher would send her the money through the Mpesa agent number after which she would withdraw and bank it for him in his personal account in a nearby bank.

 "I did not have a love affair with the deceased at all. He was just a customer like any other," she told the court.

 Mwangi, the woman told the court, was introduced to her by some of her customers and told her he was a quarry dealer before she later came to find out that he was a secondary school principal.

 The Court however heard that Jane Muthoni who is the widow of the slain principal last year on several occasions threatened the woman warning her to stay away from the husband.

 Muthoni, who prosecution regards as the prime suspect in Mwangi's killing, is facing murder charges alongside Isaac Ng'ang'a alias Gikuyu.

 The protected witness informed the court that on January 12, 2016 at 9pm while at home she received a call from a new number which she picked and a woman introduced herself as Jane.

 "The lady asked me if knew Mwangi and I told her I knew many people by that name. She told me he meant Mwangi of Kiru Boys but even before I could answer told me to keep off from her husband," the witness testified.

 She told the court shortly thereafter, Jane started to send her abusive and threatening messages which made her to fear for her life.

 The M-Pesa attendant even read one of the many text messages which the accused is alleged to have sent to her.

 "You are only 27 years I fear and wonder, wish you could respect yourself as a lady maybe you are desperate for husband but having an affair with a man who is twice your age is shameful. You seem too cheap," goes one of the text messages read in court.

 After receiving the threatening call and text messages, the witness said she informed her parents who cautioned her to take care.

Early this year, Joseph Njuguna, alias Karis a suspect-turned-State-witness, said in a confession that he was contacted by a female acquaintance he only identified as Damaris for a "well-paying job".

Their assignment: to kill a girl who was an attendant at an M-Pesa shop in Kiria-ini. The girl was alleged to have been having an affair with a married man, a head teacher in the area, they were told.

However, the mission allegedly failed after they realised it would be difficult to eliminate the girl since her M-Pesa shop was located near Kiria-ini police station and a bank which both had police officers.

Njuguna has since been sentenced to a seven year jail term.

 Meanwhile, Government pathologist Dr Peter Muriuki said an autopsy on Solomon Mwangi’s body revealed the primary cause of death as lack of oxygen due to compression of the neck.

 The pathologist told the court it was clear that manual strangulation was the immediate cause of Mwangi’s death.

He said the slain principal's body which had a rope around the neck had slightly decomposed and had bruises on the wrist and arms.

 The deceased's head also bore animal bites at the back and the front with maggots all over the body and clothes. The lungs and the brain had also started to decompose.

 

He said poisoning cannot be ruled out although the immediate cause of death was manual strangulation.

 The Court Tuesday heard that a poisonous veterinary drug was found in the body of slain teacher.

 Joyce Wairimu Njoya, an analyst at the Government Chemist, said Xylazine, a drug used to sedate animals, was found in Mr Mwangi's liver, kidney and stomach.

Njoya told Kiambu High Court Judge Joel Ngugi that a toxicology test on samples from Mwangi's body detected the presence of the drug.

 Icaciri Secondary School Deputy Principal Pauline Wairimu who also took to the witness stand described Muthoni as a good boss with whom she had a close working relationship.

 She admitted in knowing Nelson Njiru who is still at large in connection with Mwangi's murder because he was one of the suppliers to the school.

"As the chairperson of the school tendering committee I obviously came to know Njiru as one of the suppliers to the school," she said.