Televangelist Pius Muiru‘s sister-in-law Monicah Muthoni who was a co-accused in Muiru‘s mother death case now accuses Muiru and his family of rejecting her co-accused’s confession that she did not participate in killing her mother-in-law, Grace Wangari.
Muthoni who is married to Muiru‘s brother Matthew Waweru Mwangi was charged alongside Ezekiel Saitambua, Muiru‘s farm hand, in the murder of Wangari in 2017 at their home in Karega in Kigumo Constituency.
Saitambua implicated Wangari in the murder of her mother-in-law claiming to have been given Sh6000 to perform the murder on claims that she had known that the two had an affair and she was apprehensive that she could inform her husband leading to her arrest.
The farmhand could later request Muiru‘s family, at Kigumo police station and in presence of police officers, that he lied to the police officers on implicating Muthoni on the murder of the granny.
“When the farmhand confessed to have lied to implicate my wife, I believed him, but my brothers rejected his confession and insisted that she be charged alongside him to allow the court discharge its duties, ” Waweru now says.
Wangari alongside Saitambua were charged in Muranga High court of masterminding and killing Wangari and burying her on a shallow grave at their compound What followed was a long process that saw Wangari dumped in remand for over three years as she fought to be released on bond only for her in laws to reject the application.
“My family even lied in the affidavit that during the burial my mother, an irate mob was at the burial ceremony baying for her blood which was a lie. At some point, they accused me of concentrating too much on my wife as opposed to my mother, but I told them I was committed to have justice served to both suspects,” Waweru added.
In an interview with a youtuber, Lynn Ngugi Waweru and his wife narrated a blow-by-blow account on the tribulations they faced as they tried to wrestle with the court until the High court found that she had no case to answer in the death of her mother-in-law.
“Before replacing our first lawyer, I did not believe I could ever taste freedom and I had told my husband to get married and only to preserve a gravesite for me because I thought I could die in prison,” said Muthoni.
She added that despite being branded a murderer through the media stations and the community, despite her vindication by the courts, her story was never told leaving the members of the public to believe that she indeed participated in the death of her mother-in-law.
“Sometimes I feel dejected when I pass somewhere only for people to claim I was the murderer who killed Muiru‘s mother, sometimes I’m forced to move away from the people because of the negative perception,” she said.
She reminisced the fateful night she was arrested by the detectives on claims that she killed Wangari alongside Saitambua saying she was undoing her hair as she prepared to go to the saloon the following day without knowing that she could sleep in the police cells.
“I was in constant communication with my husband, and I knew that he had gone to the police station to get the cops to arrest the farmhand, when they came, they picked the farm hand, and I knew my mother-in-law would get justice. After some hours, my husband came back with the police and I was arrested,” she recounts remembering how the police beat her up demanding her to tell them the truth.
Before her arrest, Muthoni shared that the farmhand had told them that her mother-in-law had embarked on a journey and that she could get back the same day but as days went by, the mother-in-law did not return prompting Muthoni’s husband to initiate the search.
“He enquired at the Catholic church where she used to go for prayers and he was informed that our mother had not gone there, he called our relatives who also said she had not visited them and that is how he called Pastor Muiru who came up with the idea of taking the farmhand to the police station to shed rights on our mother’s whereabouts,” Muthoni said.
The High Court could later vindicate Muthoni by ruling that she had no case to answer in the murder of her husband’s mother saying it was the best moment in her life.
“I forgave all those who believed that I killed my mother in love. I had no issues with her, and she was my good friend and I could not have any reason to kill but I will always be grateful to my husband for believing in me and keeping on my side all through,” she said adding that their relationship with the rest of her in laws faded to a point of not seeing eye to eye.
She disclosed that her husband sold cows, goats and chicken and his property to see to it that she got the freedom noting they were left to be paupers by the case.