Married city woman in court after boyfriend dies during sex
In a case that could easily be dismissed by Hollywood producers as too good to be true, a 28-year-old married woman has been charged with the killing of her boyfriend, who died under mysterious circumstances during sex in his house.
Winfred Mueni was charged with the manslaughter of 30-year-old Titus Njoroge Kimani in Baba Dogo estate in Ruaraka, Nairobi on September 22, 2023.
Mueni is charged with unlawfully killing Kimani who became unconscious before he was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The ODPP charged Mueni under the doctrine of “last seen with” because she was the last person with Kimani before he died.
The doctrine is borrowed from a High Court in Nigeria – vide – Stephen Haruna Versus the Attorney General of Federation (2012).
This is a decision of the High Court in Abuja dated October 6, 2008, wherein a suspect was convicted and sentenced to death for the offence of culpable homicide.
In the case, Haruna who was a security guard at a woman’s house was found guilty because he was the only one with her before she was found dead.
The court ascertained that there was no evidence of any forceful entry or breakage to gain entry into the deceased’s house, and Haruna was the only person in the compound.
The ODPP believes that Mueni should be prosecuted under similar circumstances because her case appears the same as that of Haruna, although there is no evidence that she inflicted any injuries on him during intercourse.
The prosecution has listed a used condom recovered at their bedside and the postmortem report of the deceased as the main exhibits in the case against Mueni, with her husband listed as a key witness against her.
The matter which was under investigation for more than a month put sharp differences between the ODPP and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
After extensive investigations, the DCI recommended a public inquest to find cause for Kimani’s death because there was no evidence directly linking anyone to his death.
For instance, Kimani’s body did not have any physical injuries at the time his friends and relatives found him on his bed after Mueni called them in immediately he became unconscious at around 8am.
Crime Scene Investigations personnel and the DCI officers who proceeded to Kimani’s house immediately after he was pronounced dead at a Nairobi County Government Hospital in Baba Dogo found the house in perfect order.
The house had a bed and chairs and doubled up as Kimani’s kitchen and there was no sign of a disorder which would have indicated there was a commotion.
However, the ODPP faulted the DCI for not taking samples from Kimani’s body for analysis by the Government Chemist and recommended manslaughter charges against Mueni.
DCI officers privy to the investigations and who sought anonymity, because they are not allowed to speak to the press, said there was no reason to take the samples for further investigations since postmortem had established the cause of Kimani’s death.
Dr Peter Ndegwa, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy at the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH’s) mortuary established that the cause of Kimani’s death was an injury on the head caused by blunt force trauma.
But how did it all start? Mueni and Kimani had earlier parted ways at a club the previous night. She had gone to the club to find out whether her husband was there and found him among others who were planning a funeral.
The meeting ended at around 1am and Mueni’s husband left her at the bar drinking with friends and went home then her boyfriend turned up at the same bar shortly thereafter and they continued to drink.
They all left the club and Mueni got home at around 3am where she found her husband asleep.
They later woke up and had breakfast at around 6am and her husband left for the funeral in Limuru, Kiambu county.
Mueni left the house later at around 7am to go to her boyfriend’s house. The suspect, who is a salonist, was married for two years but was dating Kimani.
Outside the house, she found Kimani’s elder brother and uncle and greeted them, had a chat with them for a few minutes before proceeding to his house.
Kimani went out to buy a packet of condoms and returned to the house.
Mueni told the DCI that during intercourse, Kimani started having difficulty breathing, coughing, and became weak.
She told the detectives that he became weaker and collapsed on her, hitting his head on the bed’s frame, before falling unconscious.
Mueni rushed out and called for help and Kimani’s colleagues came and found him unconscious and naked.
He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead and the colleagues and relatives of the deceased escorted Mueni to Ruaraka police station where the matter was reported and she was placed in custody.
When she was arraigned at the Makadara Law Courts, Mueni denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Hellen Okwani.
She was released on a bond of Sh500,000 with a surety of a like sum.
The case will be mentioned on February 22 before the hearing starts on May 30, 2024.
Kimani’s relatives who saw Mueni getting into his house, and his colleagues who responded after she called for help are also listed as witnesses in the case.