Woman gets 20 years for abduction and murder of minor

A woman in Murang'a who kidnapped a girl who was later murdered seven years ago has been sentenced to serve 20 years in prison.

Tabitha Waithira was convicted by Judge Kanyi Kimondo.

However, her co accused Phillip Kamau Wachira was acquitted for lack of evidence to implicate him in the death of the minor.

Justice Kimondo found that the accused handed over the seven-year-old, Alice Wachera Chege to her killers on July 17, 2012 in Ngutu area of Gitugi in Mathioya.

The body of the deceased was later found by a search party stuffed in a sack and dumped in Mathioya river five days later.

Kimondo ruled that the accused plotted with other accomplices to harm the deceased and her conduct led to her death.

“Her defence is completely hollow and unbelievable, and have reached a conclusion that the entire circumstantial evidence, point is irresistible and exclusively to the guilt of the accused person,” ruled the judge.

Her sentence was backdated to July 27, 2012 when she first appeared in court.

 During the trial, it emerged that Waithira was approached by her former boyfriend who promised her that for any child who will be brought to him to be educated for free she will get Sh 20,000.

 However, after she gave out the deceased a person identified as Mwangi Ngure, she was promised that the money would be sent through MPESA.

The prosecution led by Senior Deputy Public Prosecutor Sebastian Mutinda told the court that the minor went missing when she was heading home from Kanjahi primary school.

It was suspected that she was handed over to her four kidnappers on July 19, 2012.

The postmortem conducted at Kiriaini Mission Hospital found that she had been sexually abused before she was strangled to death.