A Form IV student has confessed that he stabbed the Bolt driver to death. Elijah Magambi, 17, a Form Four student at St Patrick’s Education Center in Kasarani, has reportedly confessed to being involved in a murder before the police, which has shocked detectives.
The student allegedly lured the driver of taxi-driving app Bolt to his death in an incident that shocked the police, given the suspect’s age and the manner in which it was executed.
Stephen Kimani, 40, thought he had hit the jackpot when Magambi hired him to visit a country, but his misplaced trust paid a heavy price. Kimani thought he had closed a mouth-watering deal on February 11, but he was unintentionally caught in the death trap.
Magambi claimed that he had a patient in some Teaching and Referral Hospital, whom the family wanted to transfer to Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital for further treatment.
Kimani had no reason to doubt the teenager and hence the two settled on Shs 30,000 for the 500 km journey. It is unclear why Magambi would hire a taxi from Nairobi instead of one’s family simply renting a vehicle from their end.
Obviously, Kimani did not even investigate the reasons, in any case it was business as usual for him. Inspired by the offline sweet deal, the driver left Nairobi at midnight on 11 February for someone.
Magambi informed his contact in someone identified as 22-year-old Maxwell Nyangoya that he was on the way.
On February 12, a taxi was pulled at a Teaching and Referral Hospital at 9 am. As Magambi and Kimani had breakfast, the customer pretended to call a relative of the patient to inform them that they had arrived.
Nyangoya later joined them and said that the patient’s relative, who had to pay for the taxi, was in the town of Kericho. They waited but the person never showed up. It was getting late.
Magambi and Nyangoya then persuaded Kimani to go to Kericho so that he could be paid 15,000 ksh as part of the deal. Kimani did not suspect any foul play as the two were very friendly and made him comfortable.
According to police confessions, they left for Kericho in the evening, but on the way, Magambi and Nyangoya reportedly turned against Kimani.
Magambi reportedly told the police that they stabbed Kimani in the stomach and neck. They then dumped the body in a bush in the village of Kapranya in Belgut sub-county of Kericho.
“He (Magambi) confessed to killing Kimani jointly with another suspect. He took the officers to a dense forest in Kapranya village, where they dumped the body. Sondu officials collected the body from the spot. They also recovered Kimani’s motor vehicle, registration number KCW 782V,” the police report said.
Magambi and his co-accused were tracked by the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau attached to the Kiambaa Criminal Investigation Directorate (DCI), who checked their mobile data.
The two are expected to face charges of murder, violence and kidnapping, police said. Detectives said they intended to steal the vehicle, but when they were unable to dispose of it, Magambi took it home.
His father, Mr Geoffrey Manyara, was also arrested after the vehicle was found on their premises. Magambi returned to Nairobi and was arrested on 18 March in the hostels of Kenyatta University, where he was being hosted by a friend.
The postmortem examination revealed that Kimani never fought with his killers, as he was deeply hurt.
“Visit the scene and the body of the deceased was found with stab wounds on the abdomen and bodily injuries on the chest, back and both arms. There was no sign of conflict at the scene, which is about 500 meters from the Sondu Miriu river on the border with Buret sub-county,” said a police report.
Kimani will be buried in Banana, Kiambu County. His widow, Ms. Sarah Macharia, 33, denied the business rivalry, saying she did not know the suspects.
