Suspect in car wash stabbing faces manslaughter charge
A car wash in Mukuyu market, Murang'a County. The DPP has withdrawn the murder charge against a suspect accused of stabbing a car wash attendant on December 26, 2019. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mr Mutinda informed the court that the evidence is enough to sustain a manslaughter charge.
- The car wash attendant was allegedly stabbed by the suspect in December 2019 under unclear circumstances.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has withdrawn murder charge against a suspect accused of stabbing a car wash attendant at Mukuyu market in Murang’a last year.
The DPP now wants the suspect charged with manslaughter.
High Court Judge Kanyi Kimondo allowed the request by the DPP to withdraw the charge facing Mr Wycliffe Wanjii Njoroge and directed that the suspect be rearrested and charged with manslaughter.
“The High Court okays an application by the DPP to withdraw the murder charge and I hereby direct for re-arresting of the suspect to face manslaughter charges at a lower court,” Justice Kimondo directed on Wednesday.
EVIDENCE
Senior Deputy DPP Sebastian Mutinda told the court that after reviewing the police file, he found that the evidence on record could not sustain a murder charge.
But he informed the court that the evidence is enough to sustain a manslaughter charge.
The suspect was later charged with manslaughter before Chief Magistrate Margaret Wachira as directed by the High Court.
He was represented by lawyer Alex Ndegwa and released on a bond of Sh500,000 with surety with the magistrate directing that the matter to be on March 25.
STABBING
The car wash attendant was allegedly stabbed by the suspect in December 2019 under unclear circumstances.
Eye witnesses told the Nation that the suspect brought his car to the car wash and then proceeded to a nearby bar.
“After about 40 minutes, Mbugua went to the bar to inform his client that he had finished washing the car, a Toyota Noah. He gave Mbugua Sh300 and told him to deduct Sh250.
“After settling the bill, the suspect left only to come back after an hour and stabbed Mbugua in the chest and sped off,” An eye witness said then.
Police would later trace the suspect using the mobile phone number which he had used to settle his bill at the bar.
The Kenyan Constitution defines murder as unlawful premeditated killing of a person while manslaughter refers to killing without malice, aforethought or in circumstances not amounting to murder.
While upon conviction murder may carry a life imprisonment or death sentence, manslaughter normally carries a sentence that the court deems fair.
