A 17-year-old student at a school in Nairobi is in police custody over the death of a taxi driver in February of this year.
The KCSE candidate is said to have hailed a long-distance ride on the taxi-hailing app, Bolt, on February 11. He wanted to travel from Nairobi to Kisii, where he claimed he had a patient at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital.
The student and his driver, 40-year-old Stephen Kimani, agreed on a fee of Sh30,000 for the 7-hour trip.
They left Nairobi on the night of February 11 and arrived at the hospital at 9 a.m. on February 12. While having breakfast, the student called his contact, 22-year-old Maxwell Nyangoya, informing him that he had arrived.
Nyangoya later joined them and claimed that the patient’s relative, who was to pay for the taxi, was in Kericho town. The trio waited but the person never showed up.
As it was getting late, the student and his accomplice convinced Kimani to drive to Kericho and offered an additional Sh.15,000 to sweeten the deal.
They left for Kericho in the evening but along the way, the teenager and Nyangoya turned against Kimani and murdered him in cold blood.
This is according to the student, who confessed to the police that they stabbed Kimani in the stomach and neck. He said they dumped his body in a thicket at Kipranya village, Belgut Sub-County in Kericho.
“He confessed to killing Kimani jointly with another suspect. He led the officers to a thicket in Kipranya village, where they dumped the body. Officers from Sondu collected the body from the scene. The body of the deceased found with a stab wound on the stomach and physical injuries on the chest, back and both hands,” reads a police report.
It adds: “There was no sign of struggle at the scene, which is about 500 metres from River Sondu Miriu on the border with Buret Sub-County.”
Detectives from Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau attached to Kiambaa Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) tracked the two suspects using their mobile data.
The teenager was arrested on March 18 at Kenyatta University hostels, where he was being hosted by a friend.
Meanwhile, the taxi, registration number KCW 782V, was found at the home of the suspect’s father. The father was also arrested.
Police said the student and his accomplice are expected to face murder, robbery with violence and abduction charges.
