Naftali Kinuthia has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for the brutal murder of a Moi university student. Ivy Wangeci in 2019.
Kinuthia pleaded guilty to the crime in March of 2023 and was found guilty of the offense. An Eldoret court sentenced Naftali to serve four decades in prison for the murder. He claims he committed the crime due to anger after their relationship ended.
“Looking back, I regret what I did. Even though I was hurting there were other ways I would have used to resolve our differences,” he said.
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During the trial, Kinuthia, who was an IT expert, explained that they had been in a relationship for a long time since they were kids and that he had spent so much m money on her only for her to end up rejecting him and entertaining other men in front of him.
He stated that despite their broken relationship, he traveled to Eldoret on a crucial day to wish Ivy a happy birthday personally and that she had blocked his phone for some days, making it hard for him to reach her.
He claims he attempted multiple times to settle their issues and contacted her through an acquaintance named Mary Ann Chepkoech. He had requested Chepkoech to get Ivy to meet and sort things out, but it never happened.
Kinuthia's conduct was premeditated, according to Justice Githinji, who is currently based at the Malindi High Court, because he used an axe he had purchased to kill Wangechi.
“If he had no intention to kill, he had the opportunity to attack the victim using his bare fist. But he had an axe and a knife and used an axe, a lethal and dangerous weapon, to strike the medical student,” the judge stated.
He added: “The accused had a metal axe with a metal handle and claimed that he had it in the car for security reasons. I do not agree with him. I saw the axe in court, it is the one used in villages to chop firewood and cut trees.
Wangeci was laid to rest on Thursday, April 18, 2019, at Mahiga, Nyeri County.
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