Joseph Njuguna alias Karis, the self-confessed accomplice in the murder of the principal of Kiru Boys’ Secondary school in 2016, was one of the credible witnesses whose testimony the court relied on to convict the two main suspects.

Karis had confessed to taking part in the murder of Solomon Mwangi Mbuthi and was in March 2017 slapped with a 7-year jail term by High Court judge Justice Joel Ngugi.

Following a plea agreement, his charges were reduced to manslaughter.

In convicting the two, including Mbuthi’s widow Jane Muthoni Mucheru and Isaac Ng’ang’a Wambui, Justice Ngugi noted that he found Karis a credible witness based on at least six considerations.

First, Karis is said to have presented himself as a straightforward and open witness. 

“He gave his evidence in a straight forward manner devoid of irrelevant details and self-serving statements typical of an untrustworthy witness,” the judge stated in the ruling.

There was also no material discrepancies in his testimony which had a fair measure of internal coherence and his testimony was consistent with his earlier statements to the police.

Plea agreement

The court also noted that the witness remained unshaken under very robust cross-examination and his testimony remained un-impeached.

Again, his testimony was found to be in consonance with the testimonies of other witnesses.

“Last and most importantly, his testimony was backed up by documentary corroborative evidence in the form of the phone call logs as well as the phone forensic evidence produced by experts,” the judge noted.

The Court was wary of the danger associated with accepting the evidence of an accomplice, especially in situations where the accomplice has accepted a plea agreement which assured him of favourable treatment by the prosecution.

The Court, however, found out that the key aspects of Karis’ evidence were corroborated.

The telephone conversations between the victim’s wife and Karis on November 6, 2016 corroborated the narrative by Karis about what happened at Uriithi Plots and at Karakuta Coffee Farm.

Karis gave a detailed account of his dealings with the two suspects, Njiru, who remains at large, and another suspect and how those dealings ended up in the murder.

He testified that while the plans to murder started at an earlier date, the execution started in earnest on November 4.

By this time, Karis said, both he and Ng’ang’a had been recruited by Njiru on behalf of the deceased’s wife for the “job”.

By June 2016, they had already been paid Sh50,000 each in advance for the task. That money had been paid at Tree Shade Hotel by Mucheru in the presence of Njiru.

The advance payment, according to Karis, was to keep the two hired killers interested in the task.

Indeed, Karis testified that Njiru would call him occasionally to inform him that the “job” was still on.

Later, Njiru called him and informed him that they were all to meet at Texas Bar where they were later joined by the wife.

She outlined the plan she had and told them she had mchele (sleep-inducing drugs) to intoxicate her husband before he was murdered. The two were to strangle the man using a rope.

With the plan in place, the four headed to Kiriaini in a Toyota Sienta. They dropped Njiru at Kiriaini town before the three proceeded to Kiru Boys. They arrived at around 10pm, driven by the victim’s wife.

Murder scene

That night, the plan aborted, forcing Mucheru to drive them back to Kiriani town for them to find their way back to their homes.

The following day, Karis went to Juja where she met the deceased’s wife. A day later, she called and instructed him to meet her at Ndarugo at Uriithi plots.

He arrived first and she joined them later in a Toyota Sienta. He then told Karis to “finish the job”.

An analysis of telephone conversations between the wife and Karis on that day corroborated the narrative by the latter about what happened at Uriithi Plots and at Karakuta Coffee Farm, is the murder scene when the former drove her husband and the his would-be killers to “finish the job.”

When Karis hesitated, she got angry and drove away. She later came back with her husband and told him that Karis and the other suspect wanted to show them some piece of land but that they needed to first drive to a particular location to get the property documents.

At some distance, they tied the man with a rope, removed him from the car and carried him to a nearby thicket where they killed him.

They also took his shoes. However, when they went back to where the car was, they did not find her. She had left.