BY NT CORRESPONDENT.
The High Court has ruled that an insurance broker accused of killing a credit officer in an alleged love triangle has a case to answer.
Justice Jessie Lesiit said that Leonard Kanari has a case in the murder of Christopher Muganda Adega.
The judge directed the matter to be fixed for defence hearing.
“The accused person has a case to answer,” the Judge said after hearing evidence from 11 prosecution witnesses.
Kanari is accused of killing Muganda following a scuffle.
The prosecution while closing their case, urged the trial judge hold that the Nakuru businessman was behind the death of deceased.
In their submission the state said that they will rely on the evidence of 11 prosecution witness as they have proved that Muganda’s death was as a result of a gunshot and that Kanari fired the fatal bullet.
They also informed the trial Judge that the accused was at the scene of crime and asked the court to find the accused was armed these was confirmed by the ballistic expert.
Kanari through his lawyer in his defence has urged the court to find that there was no sufficient evidence that he had the intention or malice to cause death of the deceased.
“We humbly urge the court to find that the accused has no case to answer and acquit him,” urged the accused.
They submitted that the prosecution has not adduced sufficient evidence which in the absence of a defence the court can convict the accused of the offence of murder.
“There is no evidence whatever doubt that the accused either shot the deceased or that his gun was was used to shoot the deceased,” submitted defence.
Kanari surrendered his gun o of May 31 ,2016 at Kasarani police station and recorded after the said crime was committed.
Kanari is accused of killing Christopher Muganda Adega on the night of May 26, 2016 at Icon Flats in Garden Estate, Kasarani area Nairobi County after finding him with his girlfriend in his house.
He had been charged with manslaughter before Makandara Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was later charged with murder.
During the hearing a House girl Risper Munala to Eddah said she knew the deceased Andagi. She said on the fateful day,she heard the deceased calling the seven year girlfriend who told her to open gates. She later went to the bedroom back to sleep .
Munala testified that after about fifteen minutes , she heard a familiar voice screaming , ” why are you shooting me?” at that point in time, she was afraid of what was happening and went to the sitting room and found the door to the house open.
She found her boss Eddah seated on the chair facing outside. She added that Adah was having a monologue while trying to dial on her phone and at that point, she noticed the deceased, Andagi lying on the floor next to the door one meter away.
“This was distance between Edinah and the deceased. The deceased lay on the floor facing up. I did not speak to the deceased,” said Munala.
She testified that the deceased was injured on the left side of his stomach, there was bleeding, the deceased was talking to himself while his girlfriend Adah was just sited. She offered the deceased water to drink . The deceased took a bit of water and also gave the deceased a pillow from the seat.
“No first aid was given even from the accused or Edinah. The deceased lay on the floor bleeding and asking for an ambulance. It was then that the caretakers came over after they were attracted by the screaming noise of the deceased. The caretakers managed to find a motor vehicle to take the deceased to the hospital together with Adah,” said the House girl.
The house girl further testified that she collected a bunch of keys, (car and house keys) and all belonging to the deceased. She also collected a metal piece which she thought was the property of the deceased. The metal piece had been picked by the deceased from his left side and dropped it.
“I placed the shoes to the deceased in the sitting room, the piece of metal collected on the stool in a sitting room and the bunch of keys in bedroom,” she added.
She said when she called Adah to find out the progress on the deceased to which she was informed Muganda had died.
Edinah wanjiku Kamau testified that she knew the deceased who was her boyfriend for seven years and the father of her child. She said the deceased would visit two to three times in a week.
She testified that she knew the accused and was his friend who was helping her in business.
“At the fateful day, I met the accused at a restaurant along Thika road, at Thika Road Mall and stayed in a meeting from 7 Pm to around 12:45am. Later the accused offered to drop me and he dropped me to my apartment at Icon place in Garden Estate where i lived,” said Adah.
She added that the accused offered to carry a luggage upstairs to the house on the third floor and the accused stayed outside the house for about 10 minutes as they had a chat and thereafter got into the house.
At around 1:15am, she escorted the accused upto the house door. It was then the deceased appeared before the accused left the corridor.
“At that point in time the deceased and the accused got into a scuffle outside the corridor,” said Adah.
She testified that there was a commotion and she run back into the house. She got scared when the accused met.
The accused defence said this would be a compelling reasons to put the accused to his defence to give his story of what happened at the point in time.
Adah said she opened the house door when she heard the deceased shouting. She said she saw a blood stain on the left side of the deceased’s stomach.
The guard George Kilande in his testimony said he heard a loud voice and thereafter a man crying and shouting. On going to upstairs, found the man lying on the floor asking for help and the house help and Eddah were there. He said he knew the man lying on the floor asking for help and he was frequent visitor to the apartment.
Charles Mugosya who was the deceased close friend said the postmortem was carried out by one Dr Odour and there was a bullet that was removed from the deceased body after a repeat exercise of the postmortem.
“The doctor gave his finding that the death was caused by the bullet due to fatal injury and bleedings,” said Mugosya.
A Government pathologist Johnson Oduor testified that there was an entry gunshot wound on the left side of the stomach and there was not exit wound of the bullet.
The deceased wife Irene Nanjala Barasa testified that on the fateful day the deceased did not return home from work and she had tried calling late in the night
They talked around 1:00 am and the deceased never picked up his phone again. She was informed about the shooting by one a Mr Agrey who had been informed by the caretaker. The deceased and Nanjala had two children of the marriage.
