What do you do when the very man who was meant to protect and love you becomes your abuser? Where do you run to when his obsessive and insecure personality refuses to let you live in peace but hunts you down to death?
This was the fate of Lucy Njambi, who died in the hands of her former husband Samuel Njoroge, a former Ruiri MCA, on January 24, 2018.
The two always had a strained relationship based on the evidence presented by the prosecution in the case. Even though signs of Njoroge's violent nature were evident prior to their dowry ceremony in November 2017, Njambi chose to live with the red flags which ultimately cost her life.
She was found by Good Samaritans in a coffee estate in Magumoini off Kiambu-Ruiru Road.
It was approximately 9:15pm when the passersby heard muffled screams for help down the road.
They found a shocking scene: a naked lady who appeared to have been badly burnt.
Njambi’s body was doused in acid. Evidence produced in court by the prosecution showed that her attacker doused her face and whole body with the corrosive liquid; and did it so thoroughly that her entire body suffered burns.
The Good Samaritans managed to rush her to hospital but she succumbed to the injuries.
However, prior to her taking her last breath on January 26, 2018, Njambi told at least six people that it was her husband Njoroge who burnt her. These six testified before trial Judge Joel Ngugi.
Njoroge was charged with murder alongside his girlfriend Joyce Njambi, and Wilson Mwangi, a close friend.
The prosecution called 38 witnesses.
The former husband Njoroge was obsessed with Njambi and chose to brutally end her life rather than let her “sleep with uncircumcised men”, as he allegedly called younger men who, the prosecution claimed, he suspected were having affairs with the woman.
The prosecution's case was that with the help of Joyce and Mwangi, Njoroge planned what was staged to seem like an abduction, where he and the deceased would appear to be victims but where the sole aim was to lure, capture, humiliate and ultimately murder her.
Justice Ngugi considered the testimony of six witnesses who told the court that Njambi in her final hours told them Njoroge had arranged the attack and that he was present through it all.
The judge acknowledged that Njambi was was in pain but in a strikingly conscious state of mind.
"Defence seeks to discount the dying declarations because the deceased was in pain and agony. This is precisely the reason to believe them because the approach of death, even if not certain, produce[d] a state of mind in which the utterances of the dying person are to be taken as free from all ordinary motives to mis-state,” the judge said.
In convicting Njoroge and his co-accused, the judge said the evidence was plain and clear that the former MCA was an excessively jealous and insecure husband who had previously physically assaulted Njambi.
One of the witnesses testified that Njambi confessed to her how on the eve of their dowry ceremony she was having issues with Njoroge.
These sentiments were echoed by another witness who told the court that the deceased had told her that Njoroge had beaten her badly several times.
An aunt to the deceased testified that Njambi had gone to her house in Kawangware crying hysterically. Njambi told the aunt that Njoroge was endlessly cruel to her and had, among other things, accused her of being useless "except in bed" and of "sleeping with uncircumcised men."
Judge Ngugi said he was convinced that the difficulties the pair had drove Njoroge to consider killing Njambi.
The judge further said there was sufficient evidence that Joyce and Mwangi bought the sulphuric acid, which was to later be found in Njoroge's vehicle as per the evidence of the government analyst, Eunice Njogu and corporal Catherine Gacheca who recovered the bottle with the acid.
Call logs data as presented by Jonathan Limo placed all the accused at Thindigua at around the time of the attack.