Four years ago, such a shortage led to tragedy.
In early May 2018 water scarcity and rationing had become a frequent occurrence at the plot where Wallace Kaniaru Gititu lived in Kiambu.
So on May 31, he came back to his house and found that the precious resource was back and people were fetching it at a tap next to his door.
The landlady had informed the tenants that water was back and that they could take it from the tap.
Finding the queue and not having water himself, he joined the fray but demanded to jump the line. While his neighbours did not respond to his incessant demand, the landlady had enough of it. The man was apparently drunk at the time.
The landlady told him off, reprimanding him for his rudeness.
Gititu’s response was to engage back, abusing the landlady as uncircumcised.
“This angered [the landlady] and according to some prosecution witnesses, she retaliated by throwing water to the accused,” read court papers.
“Other witnesses stated that the landlady retaliated by throwing the pail to the accused.”
The man was known in the neighbourhood for reckless living and addiction to drugs.
In fits of rage, the man jumped on the landlady, holding her by the neck and pinned her on the wall for some minutes.
It took the efforts of a neighbour to separate them but even apart, the two pressed the abuse button, sending each their way as they hurled epithets at each other.
“All agree that thereafter, the accused got hold of the landlady’s neck and pinned her to the wall. One neighbour intervened and separated them. The accused and the deceased however continued abusing each other as they went to their respective rooms,” a court document says.
Not long after the incident, the neighbours heard the landlady ask for help from her house, complaining that she was unable to breath.
The neighbours responded and found her down with blood coming off her mouth.
"[They] attempted to administer first aid by using onions while others began to look for transport to take the landlady to hospital,” the court document reads.
The vehicle sought to take her to hospital to save her life was not available and they opted for a motorbike in the frantic effort to help. They refused to have the neighbour to be part of the team taking her to the hospital.
At the hospital, the woman was pronounced dead on arrival. The few minutes that Gititu had his hands firmly on her neck were enough to deprive the body of oxygen.
A postmortem showed she died of asphyxia from manual strangulation.
She had haemorrhage in the mucus and membrane of the eyes and her nails and hands turned blue, clear signs of oxygen deprivation in the body.
Gititu was then arrested and charged with murder.
However, the court found that he had not premeditated the offence, hence was not guilty of murder.
It was a spontaneous incident that was birthed by the spur of the moment. He got convicted for manslaughter.
“Considering the prosecution witnesses’ evidence and the defence offered by the accused, the prosecution did not prove the accused had malice aforethought,” judgment by judge Mary Kasango reads.
“I do accordingly find that accused is guilty of manslaughter rather than murder, for his act, though not intended to it caused death of deceased.”
Gititu had been in custody for now four years and seven months as his case ran its course, the judgement rendered on March 10 showed.
The judge is yet to the sentence Gititu and he (Gititu) is yet to address the court on his mitigation.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
