Christine Ambani and Innocent Makokha dated for nearly two years, beginning 2019. [Standard]
The lover of Kiriri Women’s University student, Christine Ambani, who was murdered in a guest room in Githurai, Kiambu County, on July 12, has been arrested.
Innocent Kalio Makokha was arrested by special service detectives at 2am on Tuesday, July 27, at his rented house in Chokaa area in Kayole, Nairobi County.
Police said Makokha “had been on the run since the day he [allegedly] killed Ambani”.
A postmortem conducted on Ambani on July 19 at the City Mortuary indicated she died of excessive bleeding after she was stabbed in the neck and back.
So brutal was the attack that the knife ripped through her neck and protruded in the front part.
On July 12, Ambani, who had visited a friend at Mwihoko, said she was planning to meet her lover, Innocent, at Githurai Town, 15 kilometres away.
Ambani, 23, left her friend’s place at around 10am, promising to return by mid-day. That was the last time she was seen alive.
“Immediately after Christine and Innocent met in Githurai Town, they booked themselves into a guest room in an arrangement that, according to the management, was only going to last a few hours,” the DCI said on Tuesday in a statement posted on their Twitter page.
Authorities said Innocent and Christine settled on such an arrangement to allow Christine, a Third-Year Bachelor of Purchasing and Supplies Management student, return to school and sit her exam that afternoon.
“Makokha emerged from the room later and topped up the earlier paid amount to last them for the entire night,” the DCI said.
Police say Maokha allegedly killed Ambani that night.
Ambani’s body was discovered by the guest house’s security guard, who alerted police. Her remains were taken to the City Mortuary by police and booked as “unknown person” at 3am on July 13.
Authorities say the suspect, Makokha, is a Bachelor of Special Needs Education student at Mt. Kenya University.
“After [allegedly] committing the act, Makokha took over Christine’s phone and logged into Christine’s family WhatsApp group,” the DCI stated.
“Posing as Christine, he sent a message asking family members to send her Sh87,000 claiming that she wanted to refund her boyfriend (Makokha) the money he had spent to help her settle in college.”
Detectives said the suspect, 23, had, previously, been linked to several crimes, including the murders of his brother, wife and their one-year-old child. The three died after their house was torched on February 2, 2021.
After investigations, a file with evidence that recommended prosecution was forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP). The DPP recommended an inquest into the killings.
The DCI say the suspect destroyed property during his relatives’ burials, and was consequently arrested and detained at the Kakamega GK Prison.
He would later be released in unclear circumstances.
Authorities say the suspect will be arraigned for Ambani’s murder on Wednesday, July 27, promising to revisit the past cases.
Ambani and Makokha dated for two years, beginning 2019.
Christine Ambani, known to her friends as Chrizo, was buried at her parents’ ancestral home in Musanda Village, Mumias West Sub-County, Kakamega County last Saturday, July 24.
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