The High Court in Embu has acquitted a woman charged with the murder of her husband’s lover in 2013.
Judge Florence Muchemi freed Benedita Gacugu on Wednesday citing lack of evidence in the case that has dragged on for the last six years.
The Judge observed that the eight witnesses called by the prosecution to testify did not corroborate their evidence, therefore, it was not convincing to warrant her to convict the accused.
Justice Muchemi said owing to the contradiction of the sequence of events by the witnesses, the charges against the accused were not proved beyond any reasonable doubt and thus she had no alternative but to set her free.
The accused had been charged that on May 7, 2013, at Kabogua Ka Nyama Market in Mbeere North Sub-county in Embu County she stabbed to death Nicoleta Mugwe.
The suspect’s husband, Amos Njuki, had told the court that he was shopping at Ishiara Market at around 7.30pm when he saw his wife emerge with a knife and stab the deceased, who sat outside a nearby shop
The accused’s advocate Momanyi Gichuki had argued that the prosecution witnesses could not substantiate that they saw the suspect murder the deceased, thus asking the court to dismiss the case and acquit his client.
