Suspect in father's murder freed for lack of evidence

A man who was accused of killing his father using a machete for refusing to sub-divide family’s land has been acquitted by the High Court in Nyeri.

Justice Teresia Matheka ruled that the government failed to produce sufficient evidence to hold Moses Wachira Wanjeru, 38, culpable of his father’s brutal murder.

“Though Peter Wanjeru Wachira was killed inhumanly, State did not adduce sufficient evidence. The accused person was arrested on suspicion only. There is no evidence to put him on defence,” said Justice Matheka.

DOMESTIC DISPUTE

The judge said Mr Wanjeru was arrested because he had initially engaged in normal domestic disputes with the victim and was not at home when the crime occurred.

Mr Wanjeru was charged with murdering the old man on February 19, 2010 in Gituiga village, Othaya constituency.

During the trial, Mr Wanjeru told the court that he was assaulted by two officers at Othaya Police Station who forced him to record a confession and sign consent.

“Police said he confessed of the offence hence the charges. But he denied later. Four other people arrested alongside him were released on unclear grounds. The public told police there was bad blood between the accused person and the victim but the relatives said they were normal domestic differences,” the judge said.

The suspect was living in Nakuru at the time of the murder.

The victim went missing on February 16, 2010 and his body was discovered by villagers two days later in a swamp cut into two pieces.

Police went to the suspect’s house and recovered a machete, spade and a jembe which the investigator said were the items used to execute the victim.

But the court noted that the prosecution failed to link the items to the murder.

EVIDENCE

“At the deceased’s house there were stains of blood. If he was killed inside the same house, the blood would have spread all over. The stains of blood collected in the house were not connected to the suspect,” the judge said.

The court further found that the prosecution failed to establish what motivated the suspect to kill his father.

“There were other people keen to kill the deceased but were not investigated. That was a gap,” said Justice Matheka.

She noted some witnesses testified that there were two men claiming to have been fathered by the victim and had ambushed him, demanding a share of some Sh300,000 he had been compensated by Gathuthi Tea Factory for a project that passed through his farm.

The two, the judge said, were never investigated.