Court told a woman killed her step parent on learning she was not her biological mother

A Nyeri court was yesterday told how a woman made her mother's life a living hell after discovering that she was adopted.

Justice Abigail Mshila heard that Benedict Njoki Gachinga, 33, was also addicted to bhang and alcohol.

While being cross-examined by State counsel Emma Gicheha and lawyer Gitonga Muthee for the deceased’s family, Njoki admitted that she started giving Esther Wangari Kanuri a hard time after completing her primary school education in 2001.

“I discovered that she was not my biological parent after snooping in a cabinet that was always locked. I was 14 then and I told my brother that we were adopted children. I became confused and ran away from home for one month to look for my biological mother but I later returned,” said Njoki.

The woman is accused of stabbing Wangari on February 23, 2014 at their house in Kihuyo village in Nyeri.

Njoki admitted to holding a grudge against her 64-year-old mother for reasons that she did not reveal. She, however, said it had nothing to do with her being an adopted child.

She said she was a rebellious child who did not heed advice given by her mother, especially about her drug abuse habit.

Ms Gicheha told the court that when Njoki was in secondary school, she wrote a letter to her father Michael Kanuri, apologising for being hateful to Wangari.

“Remember I wrote to you an SMS telling you that I hate mum. I was angry. I wish I got to know my real mother,” reads part of the letter.

The court heard that Njoki had once attempted to commit suicide after feeling that her adoptive parents had abandoned her.

Gicheha said Njoki killed Wangari after she was asked why she was not at her place of business in Nyeri town, where she operated a fruit juice shop.

Hearing will continue on March 27.