Police officers have arrested a suspect in connection with the brutal killing of a 24-year-old Kenyan prison warden Pauline Wangari in Murang’a.
The man identified as Peterson Njiru was arrested on Wednesday evening.
Njiru was on Thursday morning arraigned before Murang’a Resident Magistrate Sheila Nyaga but did not take a plea as detectives successfully convinced the court to allow them to detain him for 14 days pending the completion of investigations.
Murang’a DCIO Abdullah Ali, who is the investigating officer in the case, told the court that the suspect was a boyfriend to Ms. Wangari.
“The suspect is a person of interest, having been a boyfriend of Pauline Wangari, and he will assist us to unravel the mystery of the death of the deceased,” the officer has said.
Murang’a County Police Commander Josphat Kinyua says police are still pursuing other suspects.
“We are still pursuing more suspects after reviewing the CCTV footages obtained from the rental house where the deceased lived and we will stop at nothing to ensure that the culprit is brought to book,” says Kinyua.
The body of the deceased was found inside her house in Kiharu estate, Murang’a with multiple stab wounds.
She was found without clothes and her entire bedding soaked in blood. A roll of bhang was also placed between her lips, and a kitchen knife clutched in her right hand.
A middle-aged man with a tattoo on his neck was captured on CCTV footage entering her house at 9 pm on Monday and leaving on Tuesday at 3 am.
The footage further shows the man leaving the house while carrying a TV set, a large bag and a mobile phone belonging to the deceased.
According to the suspect, he had an argument with Wangari after she refused to take some hard drugs which he had given her, the Murang’a DCI said to reporters in confidence.
The two reportedly spent a significant part of Monday evening indoors smoking bhang, the suspect told the DCI.
“As per the suspect’s testimony, he strangled the woman after she refused to take the drugs he was recommending to her. He said the woman, thereafter, fell down with a thud, and he thought he had killed her. Sent into a panic mode following the development, the suspect said he reached for a kitchen knife and stabbed her in the chest, neck and abdomen, and, thereafter, put the knife firmly in her grip in a bid to make it look like Wangari had killed herself,” said the DCI officer.
In his testimony, the suspect further claimed prior to the quarrel, he and Pauline Wangari got intimate. A medical examination on Wangari is yet to authenticate the suspect’s claims.
The killing happened at Wangari’s rented house in Kiharu, Murang’a County.
“He described his relationship with the suspect as ‘just a friendship’,” said the DCI officer handling the case.