A KENYAN student of Kampala International University (KIU) is held at Kabalagala Police station for allegedly stabbing her boyfriend to death. Jane Nyiha, a second-year student of bachelor’s of public administration, is accused of stabbing David Musunga Ivita in the throat, causing him to bleed to death.

She was yesterday picked from her room in Kansanga, a Kampala suburb, where she allegedly committed the crime at around 11:00am.

The Police also recovered a knife which she is suspected of having used in the crime.

Musunga, who also comes from Kenya, was a third-year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mass communication. He was due to sit his final exams in April and graduate in September. Almost 80% of KIU students are Kenyans.

Musunga died during examination at the university clinic where he had been rushed. The two, who had been staying in the same room, were described as long-time lovers by their landlord, John Male.

“They have been friendly and calm since they rented my house in 2008. Although the boy would drink, he was generally very cool,” he said.

Neighbours reported that trouble started yesterday morning when Musunga returned home drunk at 4:00am. Nyiha declined to open the door for him.

The landlord narrated that Musunga spent almost an hour knocking at the door but his girlfriend only peeped through the window, laughed and ordered him out of her sight.

Musunga slept at the house of a friend, David Mwenda, who is also a Kenyan.
When he returned to his room at 11:00am, a brief quarrel ensued between the two, a neighbour said.

“We heard the boy groaning and wondered what had happened.”
When some neighbours went to check, they said they were shocked to find the boy in a pool of blood.

His girlfriend reportedly dashed to a boda-boda stage to rush the victim to the university clinic where he died on arrival. By press time, the body was still in Nsambya Hospital.

For several hours, Police detectives cordoned off the scene of the crime. They broke the padlock of the deceased’s room and picked blood-stained bed sheets, photographs and a knife among other exhibits.

Other students who knew Nyiha said she was a born-again Christian and not quarrelsome. They described the deceased as a quiet, intelligent youth.

Kansanga residents complained that many of the foreign students at the university’s main campus were rowdy and indisciplined.

“They drink a lot, sparking off conflicts. I often receive complaints from landlords and residents concerning the improper behaviour of Kenyan students,” the LC1 chairperson, Francis Sseguya, said.

He called for collaboration between the Police, the community and university authorities to guarantee security in the area.

Muhammad Ndaula, the university vice-chancellor, regretted the incident but defended the Kenyan students.
The incident is just the latest in a series of murder cases involving students over love and alcoholism.

In 2007, a Kenyan student, Duncan Njogu Kamore, was expelled from Busoga University for stabbing a colleague, Paul Mogaka, after they fought over a girl.

In October 2008, 17-year-old Tadeo Bukye, an S4 student of Mpanga SS in Fort Portal, was stabbed to death by a jealous girlfriend at a school party.

Last year in September, Phiona Mutamba, a student of Makerere University Business School, was stabbed by her boyfriend, also a student at the same school, before he committed suicide at Workers House in the centre of Kampala.

Source: New Vision

Nairobi — A man who killed a seven-year-old girl after being denied sex by her mother has been sentenced to death.

John Irungu Macharia lost his last chance to save his life when three judges rejected his appeal and upheld the death sentence that had been imposed by Mr Justice Muga Apondi on January 22, 2008.

The jilted lover differed with Catherine Njeri’s mother, Ms Elizabeth Nyawira, a day before he picked up the girl from school, then killed her on March 11, 2005, in Nairobi. His sexual advances had been turned down.

“It is obvious he killed her to punish the mother,” ruled Mr Justice Erastus Githinji, Mr Justice Philip Waki, and Mr Justice Alnashir Visram. “A week later her body was found floating in sewage with broken legs and missing upper teeth. “She was still in her school uniform,” they noted.

Ms Nyawira and the convict had an affair which blossomed between August, 2003, and October 24, 2004, when he attempted to commit suicide. The judges said the appellant visited his former girlfriend on March 10, 2005, and insisted that he sleep in Ms Nyawira’s house.

She refused. When she rejected his advances, he assaulted her in the presence of her cousin, Ms Jane Wanjiku, and her daughter.

He only left after he was told that a security guard would be called to eject him. Ms Nyawira dropped her daughter at school and the convict later picked up the Standard One pupil. That was the last time she was seen alive.

Efforts by her mother, school authorities, and the police to trace her did not yield any results until a local TV station announced that the body of a school girl had been found in a sewer in Pangani.

Daily Nation

Mungiki menace still exists-File Photo

By Tony Karanja

The dreaded Mungiki is on the prowl again this time in Kerugoya.

Terrified residents are witnessing horrific hackings in the town which has left them in hushed tones.

 Sources say that the Mungiki gang members are circulating pamphlets around town indicating their intended goals-to collect 200 heads. 

In one of the recent attacks, the Mungiki thugs went into their victim’s house over the weekend to launch their offensive.

The intended target was the man of the house. The man was however not in so their made themselves comfortable and had the man’s wife serve them food as their waited for him. 

Six hours later, the unsuspecting head of the house arrived not knowing what awaited him.

The gang pounced and went straight to torturing the man as his wife watched in horror.

The ruthless gang cut off his head and they then proceeded to beat and rape the man’s wife. 

This is the state of Kerugoya town as we stand until these people can be rounded up or tamed.

tgkaranja@jambonewspot.com

A pensioner has been charged with smuggling cocaine into Britain, the UK Border Agency said today.

Derek Orton, 76, was arrested yesterday when he arrived at Heathrow airport after flying in from Nairobi, Kenya.

Two kilos (4.4lb) of cocaine, with a street value of around £80,000, was found in baggage, officers said.

Orton, who was born in Essex but now lives in Kampala, Uganda, was later charged with attempting to import a Class A drug.

Peter Avery, assistant director of the UK Border Agency’s criminal and financial investigation team, said: “UK Border Agency officers are determined to stop Class A drugs reaching our streets.

“We would urge anyone with information about drug smuggling to call our Smuggling Hotline on 0800 59 5000. Orton is due to appear before Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, north London, today.

www.mirror.co.uk

Mr Martin Njuma, the pilot who died after a gang attack on Uhuru Highway, Nairobi, planned to wed Ms Becky Ngoiri in May. Photos/ Courtesy

By WANGECHI WAHOME

Martin Gitehi Njuma got down on bended knee and proposed to his fiancé Rebecca Ngoiri just before Christmas.

Less than three weeks later, the young pilot lay in a pool of blood after being set upon by thugs in a horrific attack that has highlighted the dangers motorists face while driving around Nairobi at night.

Njuma was killed at the Makaburini area near Bunyala Road roundabout after his car stalled as he was driving to Westlands at around 4 a.m.

He died the same day, January 17, at a Nairobi hospital less than 24 hours after he was rushed there unconscious.

Njuma’s father, Captain James Njuma, said the last conversation he had with his son was about his pending nuptials.

“I spoke to my son on January 16, and he was worried about being on duty around his wedding day which was to be in May. He was trying to get annual leave around the same time to coincide with his wedding,” Captain Njuma said.

Becky Ngoiri is at a loss for words after losing the love of her life.

“I keep thinking that maybe he is in Bangkok or he has gone for training somewhere. I cannot believe I will never have lunch or dinner with him again,” Ms Ngoiri said.

Mr Njuma’s death has triggered a flood of reactions on the Internet with Kenyans demanding that police act against thugs who prey on motorists at well known danger spots in the city.

The Kenya Airways pilot spent the better part of his last day with his childhood friend and colleague Moses Karanja and left Mr Karanja’s house at midnight to attend a friend’s birthday party.

“I asked him to sleep over because it was late, but he said he had promised our friend that he would attend the party,” Mr Karanja said.

Mr Karanja was unable to accompany his friend as he was to fly to Lagos the next day. He awoke at 5 a.m., and 20 minutes later he got a call from the friend whose party Mr Njuma had attended.

“My friend informed me that Njuma was in critical condition after being attacked by thugs,” Mr Karanja said. The attack happened while the group was on its way from a nightclub in Lang’ata and was heading to Westlands to continue with the party.

Mr Njuma had called his friends and informed them that his car had stalled. They were in another car behind his, but when they got to his car, they did not find him.

“A police car came by later, and the officers assisted them to look for him. They found him lying unconscious a few metres from his car,” Mr Karanja said.

The officers who found him did not record the incident. They advised his friends to rush him to hospital.

Mr Njuma succumbed to head injuries inflicted by a blunt object. He had been hit with brutal force behind his left ear and he had a fractured skull.

His attackers took his wallet and mobile phone.

Such attacks have become increasingly commonplace in the area that has been infamous for nighttime attacks on motorists for many years. No known action has been taken against the thugs.

Other danger spots in the city centre and its environs are the Globe Cinema roundabout, Museum Hill Roundabout, the Railways stage, the main bus station and the City Stadium.

Mpaka Road in Westlands has also been added to the list as revellers are robbed of their mobile phones and other valuables almost every weekend and also regularly have their cars broken into.

Captain Njuma said the death of his only son would not be in vain.

Mr Njuma’s family and friends have come together to expose the area where many attacks have occurred, some fatal, and most unreported.

“I have been getting so many emails, and people are telling me how they lost their friends and relatives in the Makaburini area,” Ms Ngoiri said.

Mr Karanja also recounted how his blogs had elicited reactions from a number of people who have been attacked by thugs said to operate from a tunnel under Uhuru Highway.

“People have horror stories to tell about the stretch between the area known as Makaburini and the Nyayo Stadium roundabout,” Captain Njuma said.

A billboard has been put up at the spot where Mr Njuma was attacked, and a demonstration will be held there on Sunday from around midday. The demonstration is meant to sensitise people to the dangers at Makaburini to avoid further attacks and loss of life.

Mr Njuma’s family and friends will lay wreaths at the spot where the body was found. They are also pushing for the establishment of a police post in the area.

“We will exhaust all the avenues to make sure that no other family loses its members through such senseless killings,” Captain Njuma said.

Central police station boss Richard Muguai dismissed claims of a rise in crime in the city centre and its environs and said this was an isolated incident.

“The young man put himself in danger by driving at that time of the night,” he said.

“We are investigating the case, but the main question we are asking is why these people did not report the matter sooner.”

Source: Daily Nation

From Standard Group report

At twenty-nine, Martin Gitahi Njuma was bubbling with life, full of promise. He was probably the youngest Kenya airways pilot flying a boeing 777, until one Saturday two weeks ago when his car broke down along uhuru highway, exposing him to an attack by street urchins that rudely cut shot his life. Martins death adds to the statistics of victims of street urnchins and gangs who have turned the tunnel along uhuru highway into a den, from where they kill, rape and maim their victims.

Gideon Omondi talks briefly with one of his defense attorneys, Mark Brown after being sentenced Friday for murder in the drowning death of his four year old son, Richie, in 2006. MIGUEL VASCONCELLOS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – A 36-year-old college engineering student from Kenya who killed his 4-year-old son in 2006 by holding him under water for three to five minutes in a Fullerton apartment was sentenced to 25-years to life in prison today.

Gideon Omondi, 36, who was convicted of first-degree murder last year for the Sept. 10, 2006 drowning death of his son Richie, had no visible display of emotion as Superior Court Judge William R. Froeberg handed down the maximum allowable term.

Froeberg also gave Omondi a second life term on an attempted murder conviction for dousing himself and his sonwith gasoline in preparation for lighting them both on fire in January 2006.

Omondi was embroiled in a bitter custody dispute over Richard with his estranged wife, Hellen, when he decided to drown his son rather than lose custody.

In a tearful victim-impact statement prior to sentencing, Hellen Omondi said she was heart-broken over the loss of her son. “The pain I will take to my grave,” she said. “I will never forgive him.”

Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy argued that Omondi planned the killing because he felt he would lose custody of Richie. He said Gideon Omondi demonstrated that he knew what he was doing was wrong because he immediately drove to the Fullerton police station and confessed

Fullerton officers went to the apartment Omondi shared with his brother and found the boy’s body tucked in his father’s bed.

Deputy Public Defender Mark Brown argued during a sanity phase that Omondi, a graduate student in engineering at Cal State Fullerton, was legally insane with a major depressive mental disorder and did not understand the act was morally wrong.

A psychiatrist hired by the defense testified that Omondi was suicidal and angry and paranoid about the family law system was out to get him in the custody dispute. But court-appointed psychologist testified that Omondi knew what he was doing and that he understood it was legally and morally wrong.

His jury deliberated for about three hours before finding that Omondi was legally sane at the time

Source: OC Register