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Woman who killed estranged husband guilty of manslaughter

 

The High Court in Meru has found a woman who killed her abusive estranged husband at her parents’ home three years ago guilty of manslaughter.

Justice Edward Muriithi explained that although Ms Jane Mwendwa acted in the heat of passion after being provoked, she used excessive force that left Samuel Mutua dead.

Justice Muriithi ruled that prosecutors had disproved Ms Mwendwa’s argument that she acted in self-defence when she struck Mr Mutua several times with a piece of timber.

He noted that Mr Mutua had pushed Ms Mwendwa over the edge with a series of violent beatings throughout their marriage, culminating in the fatal retaliation.

The court heard that on November 3, 2019, Mr Mutua raided his estranged wife’s house in Kitharia village, threatening to set it ablaze if she did not open the door.

The intoxicated man then started assaulting his wife of five years during the 6am incident.

Ms Mwendwa and her mother Rosaliah Naito ejected him from the house. The former then took a piece of timber that Mr Mutua had carried and struck him on the head three times.

Sprawling on

Mr Julius Kubabia, who was cutting fodder nearby, testified that the blow sent Mr Mutua sprawling on the ground.

The farmer said Ms Mwendwa only stopped hitting Mr Mutua when her mother intervened.

Ms Naito was initially charged with the murder alongside her daughter but the charges against her were dropped.

Area Chief James Mutethia told the court that the couple, who had lived at Ms Mwendwa’s home, had a rocky marriage and she sought his intervention to send Mr Mutua away.

He and some elders got Mr Mutua out of his wife’s home and he could not explain why he went back.

“Maybe it’s because of their love Mutua went back to Jane’s place at Rosalia’s home,” Mr Mutethia had suggested.

He said he had to ferry the mother and daughter to the Kienderu Police Station on motorcycles to rescue them from an angry mob that was threatening to lynch them.

Head injury

A postmortem examination revealed that Mr Mutua died of severe head injury and bleeding in the skull just above the brain matter, said Dr Seth Mwenda Maore.

The body also had blood in the right ear and both nostrils and abrasions on the right posterior shoulder and at the back of the head.

When put on her defence, Ms Mwendwa claimed her husband beat her frequently. She claimed that on the day she hit Mr Mutua, he had threatened to set her house ablaze if she did not open the door for him.

“I separated from my husband because he used to beat me while drunk. I used to report to the police and we would be referred to the chief. The chief told us to separate,” she said.

Justice Muriithi spared Ms Mwendwa conviction for murder, noting the troublesome marriage they had and that she was provoked to attack him.

A pre-sentencing hearing was set for September 22.    BY DAILY NATION   

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