Murdered USIU student had a hunch she would die, says witness

A university student who was murdered in July 2012 may have had a premonition about her death, a court was told Wednesday.

Before she went missing, Ms Sarah Aruwa, a fourth-year student at the United States International University (USIU) left behind a note with details of the man she was visiting that helped detectives link him to her murder, a witness told the trial court.

Miss Silvia Anyango, her elder sister, said police found the note after breaking into Ms Aruwa’s house.

“They found a note in which she indicated she was visiting a fellow student, a Daniel Mureithi... two phone contacts were on the note,” she said.

Investigations later revealed that the phone numbers belonged to Mr Duncan Livingstone Kimanthi, a student at the university who has since been charged with Ms Aruwa’s murder, the court heard.

SENT MONEY VIA M-PESA

The witness said that a family member sent money through M-Pesa to one of the phone contacts and Mr Kimanthi’s name popped up as the recipient.

The telephone numbers, she said, were among details the suspect allegedly left with a car-hire firm from which he had hired a vehicle that was later traced to Ngewa in Kiambu where Ms Aruwa’s decomposed body was found.

“A banana seller directed us to a plantation, where the police had found her body the previous day.

"I later saw her at the City Mortuary and used her fingers, toes and navel to identify her,” the witness said.

Earlier, an unknown male caller had demanded a ransom of Sh100,000 from the student’s mother and given an ultimatum that she would be killed if it was not delivered, the court heard.

The witness wept as she recounted how her sister’s body was later traced to a plantation.

A document examiner told the court that the handwriting on the notebook was Ms Aruwa’s.

The prosecution asserts that Mr Kimanthi and his co-accused, Ms Winnie Wanjiru, were part of a gang of kidnappers that targeted fellow students residing off campus.

The hearing continues.