Reprieve for woman who ‘planned death of husband’

By Isaiah Lucheli

Nairobi, Kenya: The woman who confessed to have planned the killing of her husband was Monday released on Sh1 million cash bail after changing her plea.

Principal Magistrate Peter Ndwiga also slapped the woman with Sh3 million bond and a surety of a similar amount after the court accepted her application to reverse her original plea of guilty.

Faith Wairimu Maina stunned the court last week after she confessed to have paid hitmen a down payment of Sh40,000 to have her husband killed before completing the Sh160,000 balance.

Through lawyer John Swaka, Wairimu submitted that the hardship she had undergone while in police custody made her to accept the charges as were read then, as she was not in a clear set of mind.

In the application, the lawyer submits that there was a sharp disconnect of a suspect taking a plea under circumstances, which rendered her hapless and unable to know what she was doing.

“According to the law, a suspect ought to take unequivocal plea but at that time of taking plea, Wairimu did not know what she was saying,” said the lawyer.

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

According to the prosecutor, Karuri Thuku, the accused hatched the plot to eliminate her husband Muthee for allegedly having extra-marital affair with a lady by the name Njeri Wambaa. The suit will be heard on September 12.