A former USIU-Africa student has been convicted of murdering his fellow student, Sarah Akello Aruwa, 14 years after she was abducted in Kiambu County.
Justice Kanyi Kimondo found Dancun Livingstone Kimathi guilty of the murder, which occurred between June 30 and July 1, 2012, at Kiamako area in Githunguri, Kiambu County.
Akello was a final-year International Relations student at USIU-Africa when she left after telling a friend that she was going to meet a man she had previously encountered at the university library. The meeting turned into an abduction, with her family later receiving a ransom demand.
The deceased’s mother, Hellen Atieno Aruwa, told the court that a man called her using Akello’s mobile phone and demanded Sh100,000 for her release. She negotiated the amount down to Sh70,000 before reporting the matter at Kasarani Police Station. Akello’s boyfriend gave similar evidence, telling the court that when he called her phone, a man answered and demanded that Sh100,000 be sent to the number as ransom. The court also heard that Akello had written the name Daniel Muriithi in her notebook and recorded his telephone number before her disappearance.
However, Justice Kimondo found that Kimathi did not know Muriithi and concluded that the name had been used as part of a plan to lure Akello. Investigations later uncovered items belonging to Akello at a house in Savannah where Kimathi’s girlfriend, Wairimu, lived. Police recovered her bra, panties and a blood-stained top from the premises. A postmortem examination revealed that Akello had suffered a laceration at the back of her head and bruising around her neck. Her tongue was also protruding from her mouth.
The examination established that she died from neck compression caused by manual strangulation.
Justice Kimondo found that the prosecution had proved that Kimathi and his accomplices deliberately lured Akello into a trap before abducting her and demanding a ransom from her family. The judge further found that the circumstances surrounding the killing demonstrated malice aforethought.
Kimathi was consequently convicted of murder contrary to Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the Penal Code.
Kimathi will return to court on October 26, 2026, when he is scheduled to be sentenced.
