A yellow police tape at the scene of a crime.
Nancy Wambui dropped out of Elburgon High School in Nakuru County while in Form Four to elope with her teacher, Hillary Kaguthi Gitahi.
The teacher later left the service and went into business. They lived as husband and wife for 26 years. But now the man is dead, and his wife is in jail for causing his death.
A case over Mr Kaguthi’s death played out at the High Court in Nyahururu, where children sided with their mother and requested that she be given a non-custodial sentence despite causing the death of their father.
At the conclusion of the case before Lady Justice Lilian Nambwire Mutende on Thursday, Wambui was handed two years in prison for manslaughter. This offence could have earned her a maximum of life imprisonment.
After she spends the two years behind bars, Wambui will be under probation for a further three years.
The judge noted that even though it had been confirmed that Mr Kaguthi was an abusive husband, Wambui was not candid about what happened on the night he died, which showed that she had no remorse.
Wambui had been charged with murder but entered a plea bargain that reduced the charge to manslaughter.
This was a case where age differences in marriage, the effects of alcoholism, and the consequences of parents facing off in front of their children came to the fore in court.
How the couple met
The court heard from a probation officer who handled the case that Wambui “dropped off in Form Four at Elburgon High School and eloped with Mr Kaguthi, her high school teacher”.
“They moved to Nyeri, where he changed his teaching career to a foreman, a skill that he depended on until his demise. Subsequently, they relocated to Nyahururu,” the judge wrote in her verdict.
However, the court heard, the marriage later turned abusive.
“Their marriage of 26 years was blessed with children, who are adults, with two grandchildren. The relationship was characterised by a series of domestic violence that previously resulted in stunts of separation. [Mr Kaguthi] was blamed for being the aggressor, always starting fights with the offender even in the presence of children,” the judge stated.
The court heard that beginning 2016, Wambui and her husband had domestic differences. It also heard that neighbours tried to intervene, but “there was very little success”.
The couple’s children also elaborated to the court how Wambui “suffered in the hands of their father”.
They told the court that their father always threatened to commit suicide, “which affected them”.
The lastborn, for instance, said the turmoil at home had forced him to repeat Form Four. The second-born, on the other hand, said he had deferred his studies at an unnamed institution due to lack of fees.
The night the man died
One night, at a date not indicated in Justice Mutende’s decision, a Mr Eston Wahome Ngatia was woken up by a phone call from Wambui. She told him that her husband, Mr Kaguthi, had committed suicide and asked him to rush to their house.
After the call, Mr Wahome and his wife went to the couple’s house, where Wambui led them to the bedroom. They found Mr Kaguthi lying on his back. He was unresponsive.
“[Wambui] showed them an apron dress and manila threads which were on the wall that the deceased purportedly used to commit suicide,” the judgment read.
Police took the body to the Nyahururu County Referral Hospital Mortuary.
“The police, on visiting the scene, noticed a cap and handkerchief in the sitting room, which suggested some disturbance having occurred,” the judgement says.
After the post-mortem, the judgement says, “it was established that the cause of death was severe head injury secondary to blunt force trauma to the head”.
Wambui was arrested and charged.
The trial
At the trial phase, Wambui sought to illustrate how her husband had become a monster at home.
On the night of his death, the court heard, he came home drunk as usual.
“[Mr Kaguthi] had become an alcoholic such that he would sell household items and livestock to secure alcohol. On the fateful night, Mr Kaguthi who had sold the remaining sheep, returned home completely drunk and embarked upon assaulting the accused,” the court heard.
Wairimu explained that Mr Kaguthi had tried to hang himself, and when she pulled the cloth and threads that he was using, he fell and sustained fatal injuries.
The two were alone in the homestead when the incident happened.
Society vs man’s family
The case came to a point where the court was to decide whether to jail Wambui or impose a non-custodial sentence. That is why a probation officer, Beatrice Irungu, came into the picture.
She is the one who found out the circumstances under which the two met and the domestic violence that had been ongoing.
The probation officer spoke with the children, the man’s family and the community.
Whereas the children and the community supported a non-custodial sentence, Mr Kaguthi’s family was still bitter.
“The community and neighbours vouched for her placement on a non-custodial sentence,” the judgement reads.
“[Mr Kaguthi’s] brother however was still agitated. He claimed that the offender has never reached out to them with a view of reconciling,” it adds.
While handing two years in jail and three others under probation, Justice Mutende said the sentence imposed should be commensurate with “the moral blame-worthiness”.
“The argument of [Wambui] been a victim of domestic violence is confirmed. However, the accused is not candid as to what actually happened on the material night, hence bringing into question the issue of remorse. There will be need for the accused to rebuild family ties as the relatives of the deceased do not seem to have healed to date. In the process of strengthening the family ties it behoves the accused to take responsibility of making amends with the secondary victims and the community at large. This hence calls for a hybrid sentence,” said the judge.
