The witnesses were led in their chief evidence by prosecutors Della Wilbey, Sarah Ogweno, and Peris Maina. /DPP/X
The Director of Public Prosecutions has presented four additional witnesses in the murder trial of John Matara, the man accused of killing socialite Starlet Wahu in January 2024.
Matara is charged with the brutal murder of Wahu on the night of January 3, 2024 at an apartment in South B, Nairobi.
Her body was discovered in a short-term rental the following morning, hours after she was seen entering the building with the suspect.
A postmortem examination revealed that she had been strangled and sustained a deep cut wound on her thigh, which severed a vein.
Matara was later arrested while receiving treatment at a city hospital, after CCTV footage identified him as the key suspect.
The murder trial has been ongoing at the High Court in Milimani.
On Wednesday, the prosecution called four more witnesses – a clinical officer, a police forensic analyst, and two security guards.
The witnesses offered critical testimony about the events leading to Wahu’s death.
They were led in their chief evidence by prosecutors Della Wilbey, Sarah Ogweno, and Peris Maina.
Clinical Officer Isaiah Olang recounted how he handled an emergency case involving a male patient at around 11pm on the night Wahu died.
He testified that the patient, whom he identified in court as the accused, had sustained two stab wounds – one on the right thigh and another on the right hand.
The clinician said the man also appeared intoxicated.
Together with three other medical personnel, Olang administered first aid to stop the bleeding and gave the patient painkillers.
He told court he later issued a referral letter to Mbagathi Hospital, at the patient’s request, for further treatment.
According to Olang, the accused remained at South B Hospital for less than two hours.
Next on the stand was police constable Elizabeth Njuguna, a forensic video analyst.
She told the court that on January 9, 2024, she received a memo from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) requesting analysis of CCTV footage contained on a flash disk.
The material comprised nine video clips. After reviewing them, she prepared 23 still photographs dated January 23, 2024, which she produced in court.
The man was wearing a black cap, a bluish long-sleeved shirt, brown trousers, and was carrying a red bag.She confirmed that the footage played in chronological order and showed no signs of tampering.
The videos captured a man and a woman entering an apartment on the evening of January 3, 2024.
The man was wearing a black cap, a bluish long-sleeved shirt, brown trousers, and was carrying a red bag.
The videos captured a man and a woman entering an apartment on the evening of January 3, 2024.Later, at 10.09pm, the footage showed the same man alone in the corridor, this time with a white cloth around his neck.
He waited briefly at the lift before using the staircase to the third floor, then took the lift down to the ground floor.
A stain, suspected to be blood, was visible on his leg. He exited the main entrance at 10.11pm, time stamps on the still images produced in court showed.
Despite her detailed analysis, Njuguna told the court she could not positively identify the man, as his face was not clearly visible in any of the clips.
CCTV footage showed the man exiting the main entrance at 10.11pm. /DPP/X
Last on the witness stand were two security guards - Joseph Ndungi and George Gitau.
Ndungi said he was stationed at another apartment while Gitau was at the apartment where Wahu's body was discovered.
Ndungi testified that he saw a suspicious man leaving the apartment that night.
He was wearing a blue T-shirt, a white towel, and khaki trousers. Ndungi noticed what appeared to be bloodstains on his legs.
Concerned, he told court that he contacted Gitau to ask if he had seen the man leaving, but he had not.
The two reviewed the CCTV footage and observed that the man had exited from the fourth floor.
Following a trail of blood, they went up to the fourth floor, where they found blood leading to door number Y32, which was locked.
Gitau called the apartment owner, who arrived with a spare key. On opening the door, they found the body of a naked woman lying on the floor.
Bloodstains stretched from the bedroom to the sitting room, and the body had visible injuries to the neck.
Ndungi told the court that the man in the footage was the same person standing in the dock as the accused.
Gitau corroborated Ndungi's chronology of events and explained that he had not seen the accused leave the building as he was checking the water tanks at the time.
The hearing continues on Thursday, 2 October 2025, when three more witnesses are expected to testify.
