Man convicted for wife’s murder in Buruburu Estate 3 years ago

A Nairobi Court has Convicted a man who shot and killed his lawyer wife in Buruburu phase 5 in 2014.

The murder court found Erastus Ngura Odhiambo alias Ediot guilty of murdering Linda Wanjiku Irungu on the night of 11th December 2014 at Waihura Court, Buruburu phase 5 in Nairobi.

In her judgment, Justice Stella Mutuku found that the convict shot the deceased at the back causing her demise.

There was a gun wound at the back, internal bleeding, and there was death.” read the judge.

In addition, the judge noted that there was contradictions between prosecution witnesses but at some point held that at least three key eye witnesses were consistent in testimony and related well with the occurrence at the scene of the shooting.

The court found that Ediot dragged the deceased out of her car  intercepting her from leaving the Court.

According to the eye witnesses there was altercation between the two before a single gun shot sound was heard  and the deceased was heard shout “Umenishoot” to mean you have shot me,before falling on the ground.

According to the the judgment, the convict did not deny that he was at the scene on that particular time. He however claimed that the bullet fired in the air but not at the deceased; a defense which the court found irrelevant.

It is believed that a fight ensued after Ediot arrived home at around 3am that night only to find that his wife had not returned home.

Shiku as popularly know by her friends was out partying with friends in a club in Kilimani area, Nairobi ahead of her 28th birthday that was due on 16th December.

Ediot allegedly arrived home 30 minutes before his wife and left shortly after on realising that she was not yet home. A war of words ensued when he finally returned and confronted Shiku.

Apparently, he was angered by her lateness since she was a mother of a one-year-old baby, whom she had left under the care of her younger sister, Diana Irungu.

Arrival

According to Diana, Idiot arrived around 3am before leaving and when he returned, shiku was driving in too.

The verbal exchange between the couple reportedly escalated and turned physical.

“After a brief quarrel, he told her to pack and leave for our parents’ home in Buruburu Phase II. But when she was driving out, he followed her to the gate, grabbed her by hair pulled her out,” Diana said.

Ediot was allegedly too drunk and Shiko, with the help of her sister, overpowered him and he fell down. The two then allegedly took off in different directions and soon afterwords the sound of a gunshot rent the air.

“He cocked the gun and pulled the trigger, and shot my sister in the back of the head at close range, just few metres outside the main entrance,” Diana explained.

Shiku’s fall

Diana said her sister fell to the ground exclaiming, “Umenishoot!” meaning “He has shot me”!.. but Ediot allegedly started kicking her while waving his gun and preventing anyone from rushing her hospital.

Diana, upon realising things were getting out of hand, alerted her father and brother who also live in Buruburu about two kilometres away. But they arrived one minute too late.

When their parents arrived, Shiku was unconscious and bleeding and when they tried to lift her into her car, Ediot prevented them from rushing her to hospital.

“He got into his car and knocked Shiko’s car from the rear but luckily his neighbours prevailed on him and he eventually allowed us take to take her to the nearby Jamaa Hospital where she was pronounced dead,” the sister added.

A postmortem exam confirmed that the deceased had a bullet wound on the upper right side of her back.

Ediot later turned himself in.

Ediot who has been out on bond has been taken into custody awaiting his mitigation before sentencing.