Witnesses in the murder case of Moi University student Ivy Wangeci have recounted how the accused person, Naftali Kinuthia, threatened the university student before she was murdered.
While testifying before High Court Judge Stephen Githinji, one of Wangeci's friends, who went with her to Alliance Girls High School, revealed to the court that Ivy had shared screenshots of the threatening messages sent to her by Kinuthia a month before she was killed on April 9, 2019.
In her testimony, the witness explained that together with other close friends, they had created a WhatsApp group where they would share about their lives.
"In March 2019, barely a month before Wangeci's murder, our friend, MC (an earlier witness), had shared screenshots of Kinuthia's threats that he would revenge on Ivy for spending his money,” the court heard.
In the threatening messages, Kinuthia had demanded a refund from the Moi student claiming that he had spent Ksh200,000 on her.
However, Wangeci's friends have refuted the claims that the two were dating stating that Kinuthia was only a friend to the slain student. They added that Wangeci was not interested in having a relationship with Kinuthia.
"He (Kinuthia) kept pursuing Wangeci, but she declined. Ivy had constantly made it clear to him that she was not interested in having a relationship with him," the witness recounted.
Additionally, the witness also testified that Kinuthia had stalked Wangeci days before she was attacked by an axe by the suspect. Wangeci’s schoolmate went ahead to reveal that Kinuthia went to see Ivy five days before the fateful day.
"On April 3, 2019, five days before her killing, Kinuthia had been in Eldoret stalking Ivy as he appeared at her hostel unannounced," she added
MJ, the witness who testified on December 15, also told the court that Wangeci has disclosed to her that she was afraid of accompanying Kinuthia who wanted to talk to her in his car.
"She (Ivy) told me the accused had shown up at the hostel and asked her to get into his car so they could talk. But she was scared and rushed to her hostel and did not get back to him,"
"He started sending threatening messages to me saying he had spent on Ivy and he was going to do something 'stupid' in revenge and that it could end in death. He said that no coin of his would go to waste," MJ testified.
The prosecution will produce other witnesses to testify against the suspect on December 17.
