Naftali Kinuthia has been found guilty in the 2019 brutal murder of Moi University medical student Ivy Wangeci.
On Thursday, Justice Stephen Githinji delivered the judgment virtually from the High Court in Malindi, ruling that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge rejected Kinuthia's plea that Ivy Wangeci provoked him. with whom he was romantically involved, abandoned their relationship, and eloped with another man.
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Kinuthia confessed to the murder earlier this year, saying he bought the axe he used to do the crime in 2018 because he was consumed by wrath.
Four years after his arrest outside the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, where he hacked Wangeci to death in broad daylight, he was convicted.
Kinuthia, who was 28 then and had previously denied killing her, is believed to have arrived from Nairobi equipped with an axe and a knife.
He allegedly enticed her out of class, whacked her in the head with the axe, and sliced her neck.
When asked why he killed Wangechi, the suspect at the time informed Eldoret East DCI detectives that sadness caused by numerous disappointments drove him to end the life of his alleged lover violently.
He claimed he had spent money and emotions on the woman, but his love and financial generosity were not returned as expected.
Wangeci was laid to rest on Thursday, April 18, 2019, at Mahiga, Nyeri County. Kinuthia will be sentenced on November 22, 2023.
