A man who allegedly killed his estranged girlfriend in Ndenderu, Kiambu County, was facing charges of assaulting her and defiling a teenage girl.
Brian Waweru, 25, was detained at the Rweno Police Station following the killing of Everlyn Wanjiru on New Year’s Eve.
The Nation has learnt that the murder occurred two years after the suspect was arrested on January 1, 2019 on claims of defiling a 15-year-old.
He denied the charge in a Kiambu court and was released on cash bail of Sh300,000. The case is pending.
In October last year, the suspect allegedly assaulted Ms Wanjiru following a dispute at their beauty parlour and barber shop in Thindigua.
Ms Wanjiru reported the incident at the Thindigua Police Station. Her boyfriend was arrested and charged with assault in a Kiambu court. He denied the charge and was released on cash bail.
Yesterday, Kiambaa sub-county criminal investigations officer Augustine Mutembei said an attempt had been made to settle the assault case out of court. The suspect’s mother lives in the United States.
But Ms Wanjiru’s father, Peter Waweru, reportedly rejected the overtures, especially after learning of the suspect’s other pending criminal case.
He was also said to be against her daughter’s relationship with such a “dangerous” man.
But the suspect still somehow convinced his girlfriend to move back in with him at his house in Ndenderu.
A month and a half later, Ms Wanjiru’s body was discovered in the house on January 4.
The suspect’s aunt reportedly stumbled on the body when she opened the house.
Preliminary police investigations revealed that Ms Wanjiru was stabbed with a kitchen knife on New Year’s Eve.
But the suspect reportedly kept the corpse in the house for three days. None of their neighbours heard any commotion.
On the fateful night, the couple had gone out to party at a club in the neighbourhood. The suspect told police they took a lot of alcohol and went home drunk.
An argument ensued. Ms Wanjiru, the suspect said in his statement to the Rweno police, accused him of cheating on her with one of her friends.
That is when the suspect, out of anger, took a kitchen knife and stabbed his girlfriend several times in her chest and stomach.
“The suspect told us he could not clearly remember what exactly happened after the argument. However, it later dawned on him that he had killed his girlfriend and that is when he covered her with the duvet and left the house,” Mr Mutembei told the Nation.
Police say the suspect, in a drunken stupor, tried to wake up his girlfriend the morning after her death.
When she failed to wake up, he covered her with a duvet, locked the door, went to pick up his friend living nearby and together, they went to drink more alcohol.
Apparently, he did not sleep in the house for three days.
But neighbours reported that they spotted him come and leave.
That was until his aunt stumbled on the body. She had a key to the house as she often brought him supplies.
She reported the matter at the Rweno Police Station, which is about 200 metres from the house. The police inspected the scene and took the body to the Karuri Level Four Hospital mortuary.
The suspect reportedly went into hiding but was arrested a day later in Ndenderu.
A Kiambu court allowed police to detain him for 14 days to conclude investigations. BY DAILY NATION