Pastor found guilty of killing pregnant girlfriend

Pastor Paul Ng’ang’a Wanjiru at Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi. (Photo: David Njaaga/Standard)

A pastor was Thursday found guilty of the murder of his girlfriend who was four months pregnant.

Pastor Paul Ng’ang’a Wanjiru of Wells of Faith Church in Kawangware was convicted for the murder of Caroline Chinjira in 2012 in Dagoretti, Nairobi.

The family of Ms Chinjira has been seeking justice for the last four years.

High Court judge Jessie Lessit said police investigations, key witness accounts and a written declaration left behind by Chinjira proved that Mr Ng’anga killed the former employee of Panafric Hotel. Ng’ang’a will be sentenced on Monday.

“The court has established that all evidence is pointing to the fact that the televangelist killed Chinjira after his clothes were found to have blood all over, as well as the roof and the steering wheel of his car at the scene of accident,” Justice Lessit said.

He added: “The autopsy report by the Government pathologist corroborated the witnesses’ accounts together with a dying declaration by the deceased that indeed Pastor Ng’ang’a played a key role in ending the life of Chinjira along the southern by-pass in Lang’ata on a Friday night.”

The judge said Chinjira was hit by blunt objects and was also strangled by an electric cable. The “man of God” had an intention of either inflicting injuries or causing death to the deceased, according to Justice Lessit.

Ng’ang’a and his son, James Mutua, then drove to Muthangari Police Station where they claimed that they had been carjacked. A statement that the court dismissed as lies.

According to family members, Chinjira’s pregnancy was a source of conflict. She also had a son with the pastor. She died at the Kenyatta National Hospital while undergoing treatment.

According to Chinjira’s own account, the drama started on the night of March 9, 2012, along the Southern by-pass in Langata area as Ng’ang’a and his son drove her home.

According to police statement, the pastor and his son had planned to commit the offence. The pastor’s son started to strangle the woman, who was on the co-driver’s seat, using a wire as his father drove at a slow pace.

The site of the incident is usually quiet at night and is taken to be a den of crime as many people have been attacked in the area in the past.

As the struggle continued, Chinjira overpowered the pastor’s son and got out of the moving car.

She told the police before she died that she ran on foot up to Ngong Road near Lenana School where she found a private security company car.

She was rushed to hospital where she died while undergoing treatment.