John Matara before court during the hearing of the case on March 11, 2025/EZEKIEL AMING'A
John Matara, the man accused of murdering Socialite Starlet Wahu, was seen leaving an apartment in South B, where Wahu's body was found, a Nairobi court heard on Tuesday.
Joseph Ndung'u, a security guard at an apartment directly across from the scene, testified before Trial Judge Alexander Muteti that he saw Matara exit the building wearing bloodstained khaki trousers.
He also had a white towel with blood stains draped around his neck and a black cape.
"I immediately went to look for the security guard to inform him about what I had seen," Ndegwa said.
The guard at the apartment where Matara was seen leaving in bloodstained clothes was called Gitau.
Gitau, according to Ndegwa, didn't see anyone leaving the apartment, but they proceeded to the security room to review the CCTV footage to identify which floor Matara was coming from.
"After reviewing the footage, we saw that the man was leaving the fourth floor of the apartment. We also saw blood stains at door number 32," said the witness.
The door, according to the witness, had been locked. Gitau made a call to the owner of the house, which had been listed as a short-term rental. When the door to the house was opened, the court heard that a woman was found lying in a pool of blood.
Ndegwa said he was able to visibly identify Matara as the person who came from the apartment owing to the security lights. The lighting, he said, was at the entrance of the gate.
Another witness who does short-term rental business in South B also testified that Wahu's body was found in a pool of blood at the apartment in South B.
Charity Muthoni explained that she received a call from her colleague in the business by the name Jane. Jane told her she needed a house for a client. Matara was the client.
He specifically requested a one-bedroom house with a balcony. But Charity didn't have any at the moment. She proceeded to call another lady by the name of Florence, who is also in the same business.
Florence had exactly what Matara needed.
"That's how I connected Florence to Jane. The client was to pay Sh3,000 for the night," Charity said.
Matara arrived at the house around 5:50 p.m., and he paid cash.
Charity and Florence then excused themselves and left Matara with the keys and padlock to the house.
"But at about 10:30 pm, I saw a missed call from Florence. I called back ten minutes later," the witness said.
The conversation between the two was that the security guard had informed Florence that a man was spotted leaving the house with a towel filled with blood.
Matara was last year charged with the murder of Starker Wahu. The offence is said to have occurred on the night of January 3, 2024, in South B.
City preacher Victor Kanyari was present in court during the hearing.
Wahu's incident happened at a time when there was a'spike' in femicide cases.
