The murder case of Nairobi businesswoman Caroline Wanjiku Maina on Friday, March 12 took a new twist after one of the suspects agreed to testify against his uncle - also a suspect in the brutal murder.
The 17-year student at St Lawrence Nyabieyo Secondary School who had been arrested over the murder, was released after the deal to become a state witness.
The decision was made after the police established that the minor was in school when Caroline was abducted and later on found dead in Kajiado county.
He has now turned into a prosecution witness and will testify against his uncle Justus Nyamete Manyura, a 43-year-old tout in Kawangware who will be charged with murder.
Manyura will be charged with the capital offence because the prosecutors were not convinced on how he came to be in the possession of the two mobile phones registered under the deceased’s name.
The two were arrested on March 5 at Kebuye Village in Kisii County after the police acted on forensic intelligence and tracked the mobile phones linked to the deceased.
Manyura was found in possession of a Samsung Galaxy A20S phone while the student was found in possession of an Oppo phone belonging to the deceased.
The two phone lines had been previously paired to Safaricom lines registered under Wanjiku’s particulars and which she used in her communication and online transactions.
The businesswoman went missing on February 12 and her body was found dumped in a thicket in Kajiado weeks after she was reported missing.
A post-mortem conducted at the Kenyatta University Research and Referral Hospital revealed that she died as a result of blunt force trauma on her head.
The post-mortem further revealed that her body was bruised on the hip and had multiple injuries on the left hand and wrist.
The doctor added that the deceased might have been dragged on the ground and tortured before she died.
Following the arrest of the two, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) warned Kenyans against buying electronics from individuals or dealers who do not have a physical address with the required authorization.
They further added that that in case a person doubted that they were harbouring a stolen gadget to report the case to the DCI or to other police units.
