Principal denies assaulting her estranged husband

A private school principal from Kiambu county has denied assaulting her estranged husband in a case stemming from a long-running domestic dispute between the two.

 Lucy Nungari, the principal of St Teresiah Preparatory School in Ngemwa, pleaded not guilty before Kiambu Resident Magistrate Eric Muriuki to a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm against Patrick Waweru Mwangi, a veteran Kenyan pilot.

 The plea was briefly delayed after the defence filed two applications seeking to stop the proceedings.

 The defence argued that the criminal case was closely linked to another matter already pending before the same court.

 "An accused in one matter cannot quickly come and claim to be a complainant in another matter," defence lawyer Jane Odiya submitted, urging the court to examine the circumstances under which the fresh charges had been brought.

 Odiya told the court that Waweru is the accused in Kiambu Criminal Case No. 2115 of 2025, where he faces allegations of assault causing actual bodily harm against Nungari, allegedly by strangulation.

 She argued that the alleged incident occurred on November 18, 2025, and that the latest charges against her client had been filed shortly before the earlier case was due for hearing.

 According to the defence, both cases arose from the same incident and allowing separate proceedings amounted to an abuse of the court process.

 Odiya also asked the court to consider protection orders allegedly issued in December 2025 and questioned why the two parties had not been charged together.

 The prosecution opposed the application, maintaining that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) had independently reviewed the evidence before deciding to charge Nungari.

 The prosecution argued that the existence of another criminal case did not prevent the ODPP from exercising its constitutional mandate to institute criminal proceedings where sufficient evidence existed.

 Lawyer Kimani Wakimaa, appearing for the complainant, also opposed the application and urged the court to allow the plea to proceed.

 He further objected to an application seeking to bar journalists from covering the proceedings, arguing that the matter was being heard in open court.

 "The fact that the accused is a school principal does not make this case different from other criminal matters before our courts," Wakimaa submitted.

 He told the court that the domestic nature of the dispute was well known to both parties and their advocates.

 He added that the matter had taken time to reach court following investigations, consultations with the ODPP and attempts at alternative dispute resolution.

 Wakimaa also urged the court to impose strict bond terms, claiming there was a risk of interference with the complainant and witnesses.

 He alleged the accused had used the couple's children to intimidate the complainant.

 He further claimed there had been an attempt to interfere with the investigating officer, although he acknowledged he had not tabled the relevant reports before the court.

 He asked the court to bar the accused from contacting the complainant or witnesses except through court-sanctioned processes or approved alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

 In his ruling, Magistrate Muriuki dismissed the application seeking to stop media coverage, finding that no sufficient grounds had been presented to justify restricting journalists from reporting on the proceedings.

 The court also rejected the application to defer the plea, holding that the existence of another criminal case did not prevent the ODPP from instituting separate proceedings where it had independently established sufficient evidence.

 "The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has the constitutional mandate to institute criminal proceedings against any person before any court without the consent of any person or authority," the magistrate ruled.

 The court subsequently allowed the criminal proceedings to continue, after which Nungari pleaded not guilty to the assault charge.

 She was released on a cash bail of Sh100,000 or an alternative bond of Sh200,000, with one surety of a similar amount.

 The case will be mentioned on August 6, 2026, for a pre-trial conference as both parties continue pursuing separate criminal cases arising from their domestic dispute.