Former USIU student sentenced to death for killing colleague

A former student of the United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa), Duncan Livingstone Kimathi, has been sentenced to death for murdering his fellow student, Sarah Akello Aruwa, in a case involving abduction and a ransom demand of Ksh100,000.

In a statement on Thursday, October 29, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) announced the sentence after Justice Kanyi Kimondo found the 37-year-old guilty of murdering Akello in an incident that occurred between June 30 and July 1, 2012, in the Kiamako area of Githunguri, Kiambu County.

“The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has today secured a death sentence against Duncan Livingstone Kimathi, a former student of the United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa), for the murder of his fellow student, Sarah Akello Aruwa, in a case involving abduction and a ransom demand of Ksh100,000,” the statement read.

According to the ODPP, the prosecution presented 17 witnesses to establish the circumstances surrounding Akello’s abduction, the ransom demands made to her family and her subsequent murder.

“The prosecution called 17 witnesses to establish the circumstances of the abduction, ransom demands and murder, securing the conviction and sentence,” the statement added.

The court heard that Kimathi and his accomplices had lured Akello into a trap before abducting her and demanding money from her family in exchange for her release. 

Justice Kimondo concluded that the circumstances surrounding the abduction and killing demonstrated malice aforethought.

The deceased was a final-year International Relations student at USIU-Africa and had informed a friend that she intended to meet a man she had previously encountered at the university library on the day she disappeared.

“The court heard that the deceased was a final-year International Relations student at USIU-Africa. On the day she disappeared, she informed a friend that she was going to meet a man she had previously encountered at the university library,” the statement further read.

The ODPP said evidence presented during the trial showed that the abductors contacted Akello’s family and demanded Ksh100,000 for her release.

Her mother, Hellen Atieno Aruwa, testified that a man called her using her daughter’s mobile phone and demanded the ransom. 

She negotiated the amount down to Ksh70,000 before reporting the matter to Kasarani Police Station.

Akello’s boyfriend also told the court that he attempted to contact her on her mobile phone but a man answered and demanded that Ksh100,000 be sent to the deceased’s mobile money account as ransom.

Investigators also examined information in Akello’s notebook, which contained details of a person she intended to meet before her disappearance.

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“The court further heard that the deceased had written in her notebook that she intended to meet a person identified as Daniel Muriithi, whose telephone contact she had also recorded. However, the court established that Mr. Kimathi did not know Muriithi and concluded that the identity had been used as part of a plan to lure the deceased,” the statement noted.

Further investigations led to the recovery of Akello’s bra, panties and a blood-stained top from a house in Savannah where Kimathi’s girlfriend, Wairimu, lived.

The trial also involved a second accused person who later absconded after being released on bail, prompting the court to direct that proceedings continue in her absence.

A postmortem examination revealed that Akello had sustained a laceration at the back of her head and bruises on her neck. 

Her tongue was also protruding from her mouth, while the cause of death was established to be neck compression through manual strangulation.

In delivering his judgment, Justice Kimondo found that Kimathi had deliberately lured Akello into a trap before the abduction and ransom demands that preceded her killing.

“In his judgment, Justice Kimondo found that Mr. Kimathi had acted with malice aforethought, noting that the deceased had been deliberately lured into a trap for abduction and ransom before being murdered,” the statement concluded.

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