The hearing of the murder case of Ivy Wangechi, a 6th year Medicine student at Moi University who was hacked to death in a broad daylight three years ago has commenced, despite some hurdles along the way.
The family of the victim believed to have been killed by her childhood friend was in court yesterday along with two witnesses from that fateful day.
At the Eldoret High Court, two key witnesses from the defense side narrated that they saw the accused Naftali Kinuthia brutally attack Ivy Wangechi with an axe just outside the Moi teaching and referral hospital Eldoret.
They added that the accused went ahead to hit the late Ivy on the head several times using the axe even after Ivy had lost consciousness.
Dr. Andrew Koinange is one of the two key witnesses who positively identified the accused Naftali Kinuthia as the person who hacked Ivy Wangechi to death.
Dr. Andrew Koinange was her classmate in her 6th year at the school of medicine. Ivy Wangechi was attacked in the afternoon on 9th April 2019, while she was walking alongside her classmates headed for a clinical lesson.
“I just heard it make an impact. So she fell towards my side and I jumped back. This attacker lifted up what I thought was around the time. And at this point, I actually went to grab it from him. But then he faced and he lifted it towards me. And then I noticed that it was an axe,” said Dr. Andrew Koinange.
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Ivy Wangechi’s mother heartbroken and in tears told the court how she received the death of her daughter from the management team at Moi University.
She went on to dispute allegations that her late daughter was involved in a romantic relationship with the accused Naftali Kinuthia. She noted that the two were childhood friends who schooled together in primary school between the years of 1998 to 2003.
Just last month, Ivy Wangechi’s mother expressed her frustrations with the courts, numerous adjournments on the matter owing to lack of preparedness by the accused team.
Now the accused Naftali Kinuthia is adequately presented by a team of three advocates.
“I don’t believe much has changed in terms of the accused being a flight risk, in terms of him being probably likely to interfere with witnesses,” said an advocate.
Presiding over the matter Justice Stephen Githinji advised both parties in the matter to proceed without seeking any adjournments to speed up the case which has been dragging for three years now.
The second hearing of this case is scheduled for 22nd July this year.
