Man Sentenced to Death for 2012 Murder of University Student Sarah Akello

NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 29 – A 37-year-old man has been sentenced for the murder of his fellow student, Sarah Akello Aruwa, in a case involving abduction and a ransom demand of Sh100,000.

Justice Kanyi Kimondo sentenced Duncan Livingstone Kimathi after finding him guilty of murdering Akello between 30th June and July 1, 2012, in the Kiamako area of Githunguri, Kiambu County.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution called 17 witnesses to establish the circumstances of the abduction, ransom demands and murder, securing the conviction and sentence.

The Court found that Kimathi and his accomplices had lured the deceased before abducting her and demanding a ransom from her family. The court concluded that the circumstances surrounding the abduction and subsequent killing demonstrated malice aforethought.

“The Court heard that the deceased was a final-year International Relations student at a Nairobi-based University. On the day she disappeared, she informed a friend that she was going to meet a man she had previously encountered at the university library,” the ODPP said in a statement via X

Evidence presented during the trial showed that the abductors subsequently contacted her family and demanded Sh100,000 for her release.

Her mother, Hellen Atieno Aruwa, testified that a man called her using her daughter’s mobile phone and demanded the ransom. She negotiated the amount down to Sh70,000 before reporting the matter at Kasarani Police Station.

Akello’s boyfriend also told the court that when he attempted to reach her on her mobile phone, a man answered and demanded that Sh100,000 be sent to the deceased’s mobile money account as ransom.

The court further heard that the deceased had written in her notebook that she intended to meet a person identified as Daniel Muriithi, whose telephone contact she had also recorded. However, the court established that Kimathi did not know Muriithi and concluded that the identity had been used as part of a plan to lure the deceased.

Investigations subsequently led to the recovery of Akello’s bra, panties and a blood-stained top from a house in Savannah where Kimathi’s girlfriend, Wairimu, lived. The second accused later absconded after being released on bail, prompting the court to direct that the trial proceed in her absence.

A postmortem examination established that the deceased had sustained a laceration at the back of her head and bruises on her neck, with her tongue protruding from her mouth. The cause of death was determined to be neck compression through manual strangulation.

In his judgment, Justice Kimondo found that Kimathi had acted with malice aforethought, noting that the deceased had been deliberately lured into a trap for abduction and ransom before being murdered.

The Court consequently convicted Kimathi of murder, contrary to Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the Penal Code, and sentenced him to death.