Witness narrates how he rescued boy after mother's brutal murder

Rift Valley
By Yvonne Chepkwony | Jul 10, 2025
The five suspects in women's killings at Mawanga area of Nakuru North Sub County before Nakuru principal Magistrate Yvonne Khatambi in Nakuru Court on July 19, 2022. {File, Standard}

A witness in a trial against a gang accused of murdering a woman in Mawanga, Nakuru City, testified that he rescued a three-year-old boy from a burning house.

The gang is alleged to have killed four women in Mawanga, aged between 20 and 38, committing acts of robbery, strangulation and rape before setting their victims’ houses on fire.

Elizaphan Nderitu told Justice Julius Nangea how he rescued the crying boy as the house burned.

He was giving evidence against Kevin Otieno, Josphat Juma, Julius Omondi, Dennis Mmbolo and Isaac Kinyanjui, all of whom have denied killing Susan Wambui on June 21, 2022, in Nakuru City.

One of their co-accused, Evans Kebwaro, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“Around 2pm, while at home preparing dairy feed for my cattle, I received a call from my wife, who said there was a fire in our neighbor’s house across the road,” he stated.

Without delay, he followed his wife to the scene. On arrival, he found the front door padlocked but managed to enter the property through an opening in the iron sheet fence.

Inside the compound, he found two women wailing helplessly as thick smoke billowed from the house.

“The door was locked from the inside. I sent my wife to our house to fetch some metal tools, which I used to gain entry into the burning house. We broke several window panes and instructed the child to stand facing outward to avoid the choking smoke,” he added.

He described how the child was crying until a gathering crowd helped rescue him. Nderitu noted that, while the fire was contained, smoke still filled the area, and calls to Wambui’s phone went unanswered.

While searching the house, they discovered her lifeless body on the bed, facing upward, with blood oozing from her mouth and bubbles from her nose. Neighbours rushed her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

On that tragic day, Wambui’s husband, Stephen Njuguna, recounted that his wife had left to run their shop, which was within their home while he went for a business meeting in Olkalau around 7am.

“The day was uneventful until 3:30 pm, when a neighbor called asking me to come to Mediheal Hospital. I was shocked to learn that my wife was dead and her face was swollen,” Njuguna said.

When he returned home, he found their TV, money and credit cards missing from the shop. His three-year-old son told him that unknown intruders had attacked his mother with a machete and stolen the TV.

Njuguna discovered that the gang did not harm his son but escaped with Sh400,000, which his wife had collected from rental payments and her savings groups.

The case is scheduled to continue on October 14.

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