Former United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) student Duncan Livingstone Kimathi has been sentenced to death for the 2012 murder of fellow student Sarah Akello Aruwa. Sarah was abducted after being lured into a trap in a case involving a KSh100,000 ransom demand.

Justice Kanyi Kimondo handed down the sentence after finding the 37-year-old guilty of murdering Akello between June 30 and July 1, 2012, in Kiamako, Githunguri, Kiambu County.

The court heard that Akello, a final-year International Relations student at USIU-Africa, told a friend she was going to meet a man she had previously encountered at the university library on the day she disappeared.

She had also written in her notebook that she intended to meet someone identified as Daniel Muriithi and recorded his telephone contact. However, the court established that Kimathi did not know Muriithi and found that the name had been used to lure Akello.

After her disappearance, the abductors contacted her family and demanded Sh100,000 for her release. Akello’s mother, Hellen Atieno Aruwa, told the court that a man called her using her daughter’s phone to demand the ransom. She negotiated the amount down to Sh70,000 before reporting the matter at Kasarani Police Station.

Akello’s boyfriend also testified that a man answered her phone when he tried to reach her and demanded that Sh100,000 be sent to her mobile money account as ransom.

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 court also heard that a second accused person absconded after being released on bail, prompting the trial to proceed in her absence.

A postmortem established that Akello died from neck compression through manual strangulation. She had also sustained a laceration at the back of her head and bruises on her neck.

The prosecution, led by Millicent Kigira, called 17 witnesses to present evidence on the abduction, ransom demands and murder. In his judgment, Justice Kimondo found that Akello had been deliberately lured and abducted for ransom before she was killed, establishing malice aforethought.

Kimathi was convicted of murder under Sections 203 and 204 of the Penal Code and sentenced to death.

APERIT FM, HII NI YETU