A Nairobi bar owner, who shot dead a 27-year-old woman for declining to join him for a night out, has been found guilty of murder.
Mr Erastus Ngura Odhiambo alias Baba Billy was convicted by Lady Justice Stellah Mutuku on Thursday.
Mr Odhiambo was found guilty of shooting dead Linda Wanjiku Irungu in the wee hours of December 11, 2014 at Buruburu Phase 5 Nairobi.
The court found Mr Odhiambo guilty of committing the crime after visiting the deceased’s residence thrice on the fateful night.
The judge said when Odhiambo met the late Ms Wanjiku trying to drive out of her house he dragged her out of the car then shot her after a struggle, as two night guards watched.
The shooting awoke neighbours of Waihuru Court where the deceased lived.
The judge rejected the accused’s defence that it was the deceased who pulled the trigger of the Ceska pistol as she was drunk.
FATAL SHOT
“Although the accused claims the deceased reached out for his gun and fired in the air, it is impossible for the bullet to have changed directions to hit her at the back. It is the accused who fired the fatal shot which snuffed out the life of Linda with whom they had been quarreling,” the judge said.
While convicting the accused the judge said:
“Odhiambo found the deceased driving her vehicle out in a bid to run away from him. She was dressed in a pajama. He blocked her and drew his gun from the back of his trouser. He opened the door of her vehicle, dragged her out, pushed her towards her house. She resisted as she struggled to free herself. It is then that he shot her at in right upper back inflicting a fatal injury.”
The judge said all the evidence places the accused squarely on the crime scene and he is guilty of the crime.
“From the totality of the evidence adduced I find the accused guilty of murdering Linda Wanjiku Irungu,” Justice Mutuku ruled.
The judge will hand down a sentence on July 31 ,2018 after receiving the accused’s mitigation and the victim’s impact report.