Murder plea in NLC official case pushed to May 26 to await mental assessment report

 

The office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions has approved murder charges against a prime suspect in the killing of ex-National Land Commission deputy director of communications Jennifer Wambua.

Peter Njenga alias Sankale, 44 was produced before a Machakos court where the prosecution said they would charge him with the murder of Wambua.

Machakos High court judge David Kenei directed Njenga to be detained at the Kitengela police cells until May 26, 2021, when he will take plea.

Kenei also directed the government to provide a pro bono advocate for the suspect.

This will enable the state to file the mental assessment report on Njenga.

Particulars of the offence state that Njenga jointly with others not before court murdered Wambua between March 12 and 13 at Veterinary Farm Ebulbul, Kajiado county.

The case was moved from Kiambu to Kajiado and later to Machakos.

It could not proceed in Kajiado because the judge was said to be away on leave forcing the officers to rush him to Machakos.

A mental test has already confirmed Njenga is fit to stand trial.

He was taken for mental tests and an identification parade last week ahead of Monday’s session.

Two other suspects in the case –Benjamin Saitoti, a boda boda rider, and David Sempuan, a herder - have been set free and placed under witness protection.

They are state witnesses against Njenga.

The court was also told that Njenga has four pending cases of robbery with violence and theft.

A forensic analysis placed Njenga at the scene of the crime.

An identification parade positively identified him as the man who had been with Wambua before her body was recovered.

Wambua went missing on March 12 before her body was found in Kerarapon area, Ngong, the following day.

Njenga who was arrested on April 13 in Ebulbul in Ngong, Kajiado county has been in custody since then.

A magistrate’s court had thrice allowed police to hold him as they continued with their probe.

The month-long probe has shown Njenga, who is a convicted rapist and violent robber, was last seen with Wambua when she was alive on March 12.

“The forensic results are finally out, positively matching the suspect. Following detailed forensic and intelligence-led investigations, detectives established that the suspect had indeed interacted and spent some time with the deceased at the location where the body was later discovered,” said DCI.

Njenga allegedly trailed Wambua to Ngong Forest where she had gone to pray.

“It was established that the area is often visited by pilgrims for spiritual intentions. Detectives further established that the suspect preyed on the deceased as she prayed before he made his move to sexually assault her and strangle her to death,” said the DCI.

The probe showed a pastor advised her to go for prayers in the area.

The team handling the probe revealed they had ruled out the abduction of Wambua before she went missing.

This was after a forensic analysis of her mobile phone led them to a conversation between Wambua and a Machakos-based religious leader who advised her to take some time alone in the forest and pray for her depression to go away.

The pastor has been grilled by police and revealed he had talked to her on the day she went away and met her death.

According to police investigations, it was after she had come from the prayers that she met suspects in the murder probe.

Saitoti and Sempuan told a village elder in the Ngong area that they saw Wambua alive.

Police were called to pick them up. According to the suspects, they left Wambua with a man who has since been confirmed to be Njenga who stayed with her until late when they left.

The two claimed she asked for water and the man left to buy some for her at a nearby shopping centre.

The area is about 20km from the city centre where the NLC staffer had been spotted earlier.

An autopsy showed she was strangled by bare hands. She was supposed to be on a five-day leave from March 8 but showed up in the office on March 12, the day she went missing.

Wambua left all her belongings including her handbag and mobile phone in the family car and walked away leaving no trace of her next destination.

A probe into Njenga’s criminal records showed that he committed similar offences in the past.

Detectives said it is surprising that the suspect, who was handed a death sentence in 2003, was free.

It was confirmed that the suspect was a jailbird.

“Our criminal data system was mined and indeed confirmed the suspect had committed similar offences using the same modus operandi of committing robbery and thereafter repeatedly sexually abusing the victims by raping and killing them,” DCI said.

“For instance, in 1996, he was charged with stealing and was further charged three times with the offences of robbery with violence and rape. On January 15, 2003, he was convicted and sentenced to death at Kibera senior resident magistrate's court. How he won his freedom remains a mystery, which the detectives are currently unearthing”.   BY THE STAR