• Police said he confessed but failed to take statement
• Man was accused of killing his ex-wife on Christmas day of 2012
Image: THE STAR
A court in Machakos on Wednesday acquitted a man accused of killing his ex-wife outside a disco in Mwala.
Justice David Kemei said the evidence presented in court was based on suspicion and not sufficient to prove the accused committed the offence.
“The evidence taken as a whole clearly shows the accused was the ex-husband of the deceased and that they were not on good terms,” the judge said.
KMM as identified in court was accused of killing his ex-wife who worked as a barmaid at Up London bar in Mwala, Machakos county, on Christmas day of 2012.
He denied the charges asserting that he had not seen his ex-wife on the said date as he spent the day with a friend in his house.
Peter Musau told court that the deceased had been his barmaid and that the accused had been his neighbour.
He testified that the accused used to frequent the bar to harass the deceased and often issued threats against her after they had separated and that he used to assign one of his workers to be escorting her to her room to avert any possible incidents.
“On the material day, the deceased informed him that the accused had come into the bar and taken drinks without paying. She later that night told me that KMM was pestering her to accompany him to a disco,” Musau said.
He confirmed that the accused had married the deceased and they had two children but that the marriage was rocked with squabbles.
“One time I had accompanied EKN to a police station to lodge report of assault on her by the accused,” he testified.
Peter Muthuku,who worked as a night guard at Mwala market testified that on December 25, 2012, he heard some noise near a disco. He joined his workmate and approached a nearby tree where they found EKN lying on the ground with a stab wound on her neck.
Winfred Ndinda testified that on the material day while on patrol, she was alerted by noise at Mwala market and rushed there to find a woman lying under a tree with a kitchen knife stuck in her neck.
Elishper Mwikali of Ngelani police post told the court that on the same date at 4.30am, she was at the post when the accused turned up and introduced himself and reported that he had had a disagreement with somebody whom he had stabbed in the neck.
The confession was disregarded in court as the police failed to take down a confession statement according to the law.
Doctor Fredrick Okinyi said the postmortem examination showed the body had multiple stab wounds in the neck and left chest wall.
"I concluded that the cause of death was hemorrhagic shock due to stab wound to the heart and lungs,” he said.
The accused, in his defence told the court, he was at home with one Joshua Wambua who used to work at a hotel in Mwala market.
“I had presented myself to the station after hearing the news and accusations but I was arrested and forced to confess to killing EKN.
KMM said he was placed in the same vehicle as the deceased where he was assaulted causing him to fall on the body of the deceased thus explaining the bloodstains on his t-shirt.
“I loved her and could not kill her. She would visit me at my place every often,” he said.
In his ruling, Justice Kemei said although the accused is stated to have confessed to have committed the offence, there is no independent evidence that points towards his participation.
“The mere fact that the two knew each other and had frequent disagreements does not amount to proof of culpability. I therefore acquit the accused,” he ruled.