Kiambu Murders: Family of Gardener Pleads for Help

The family of James Kinyanjui Wambaa, the gardener who was murdered alongside four family members in Kiambaa, Kiambu County, is pleading for help.The deceased’s cousin, Elizabeth Kinyanjui, appealed to Kenyans of goodwill to help the family pay for hospital bills and accord Wambaa a befitting send-off.Ms Kinyanjui lamented that Wambaa’s death was not getting enough coverage compared to that of his employers.  Lawrence Warunge and Sarah Muthoni when they appeared in court on January 11, 2021. “My kin is being referred to as a farmhand, the constructor or just a worker, but he was a human being as well who had a family who relied on him,” she stated.She added that the 38-year-old is survived by two children. According to the main suspect’s confession, Wambaa was the first person who was killed on the fateful day.Lawrence Warunge, a 22-year-old University student, found Wambaa and asked him for a metal bar immediately he arrived home.Wambaa would give it to him, oblivious of what he wanted to do with it.He would later catch the farmhand unawares and hit him at the back of the head several times before he cut his throat using the knife he had earlier bought in Thika.The university student narrated that he stayed at the scene where he had killed Wambaa for a number of hours until his father arrived home.It is at this time that he went inside the house and killed his four family members, starting with his mother and cousin before descending on his father and ultimately finishing his brother.Post mortem results conducted by government pathologist Johansen Oduor indicate that all the victims succumbed to multiple stab wounds likely inflicted by the same person.”The injuries looked pretty similar and measured almost the same. The measurements of the stab wounds varied between three to four centimeters,” Oduor stated.The pathologist observed that those who got most injuries were the father and his son because they had many wounds, with severed necks.”It is like the person who killed the two was doing it with a lot of anger,” he stated. Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor (Centre) flanked by officials from the DCI and Government Chemist. His autopsy report regarding Ken Walibora released on April 18, 2020, has raised questions.File