Jennifer Wambua murder: DPP approves charges against key suspect
Veteran Machakos journalist Jennifer Itumbi Wambua, who went missing on March 12, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Machakos High Court judge David Kenei on Monday allowed the DPP to file murder charges against Peter Njenga alias Ole Sankale.
Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has approved charges against the key suspect in the murder of former National Land Commission (NLC) Deputy Director of Communications Jennifer Wambua.
Machakos High Court judge David Kenei on Monday allowed the DPP to file murder charges against Peter Njenga alias Ole Sankale.
He allowed the DPP to present the suspect before him on May 26 so that he can take a formal plea.
Ms Wambua disappeared on March 12 after leaving her office at Ardhi House, Nairobi, for Kerarapon in Ngong to hold prayers as directed by her church pastor.
She left behind her mobile phone and personal valuables in their family car, which was parked across the road near the Milimani Law Courts.
It is not known how the key witness in a corruption case travelled to Ngong, but detectives believe that she could have used public transport.
Ole Sankale is said to have preyed on Ms Wambua as she was praying in a thicket.
Two witnesses, a boda boda rider and a herder who are crucial in the case and whose testimonies led the police to arrest Ole Sankale, said they saw the suspect with Ms Wambua, and that he gave her a bottle of water.
Second mental test
Police suspect the bottle of water, sourced from Mr Sankale’s shop, was laced with a drug that stupefied Ms Wambua, making it possible for her to be raped before being strangled to death.
Mr Sankale has been in custody for six weeks now. He is set to spend one more week at the Kitengela Police Station after being moved from Kiambu and Ngong police stations where he had initially been booked.
“Peter Mwangi Njenga alias Sankale: Between March 12 and 13 at Vetenary farm Ebulbul within Kajiado County jointly with others not before court murdered Jennifer Itumbi Wambua,” reads the charge sheet that the DPP intends to use in introducing the case formally before court next week.
Mr Sankale, a businessman who, according to the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), has a criminal record and is supposed to be in jail, is set to undergo a second mental test as ordered by Justice Kenei.
The DCI also wants the suspect to be charged with other separate crimes — including rape, assault and robberies, which were committed in the past and only came to light after he was arrested last month.
Mr Sankale has four other pending cases of robbery with violence, according to an affidavit filed at the High Court in Kiambu by the DCI.
The two other suspects in the case who were also in custody have since been set free. They have been placed under witness protection and will be used as state witnesses against Mr Sankale.
