A former United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) student has been sentenced to death for the murder of his colleague, Sarah Akello Aruwa, in a kidnapping-for-ransom case that dates back to June 2012.
Duncan Livingstone Kimathi, 37, was sentenced on Thursday, October 29, 2026, by High Court Judge Kanyi Kimondo after the court found him guilty of murdering Akello, a final-year International Relations student at the university.
The court found that Akello was deliberately lured into a trap, abducted and subsequently killed, with her family receiving demands for money in exchange for her release.
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The prosecution presented evidence showing that the abduction and killing were premeditated, with the judge concluding that the circumstances demonstrated malice aforethought.
How the student was lured
The case arose from the disappearance of Akello between June 30 and July 1, 2012, in the Kiamako area of Githunguri, Kiambu County.
According to evidence presented in court, Akello had told a friend that she intended to meet a man she had previously encountered at the university library.
She had also written the name Daniel Muriithi and a telephone number in her notebook. However, the court established that Kimathi did not know the person whose identity had been used, finding that the name was part of a plan to lure her into the trap.
After Akello disappeared, her family began receiving calls from a man demanding money for her release.
Her mother, Hellen Atieno Aruwa, testified that a man called her using her daughter’s mobile phone and demanded a ransom of Sh100,000.
She negotiated the amount down to Sh70,000 before reporting the matter to Kasarani Police Station.
Akello’s boyfriend also testified that when he attempted to contact her on her phone, a man answered and demanded that Sh100,000 be sent to the deceased’s mobile money account.
The ransom negotiations, telephone evidence and circumstances surrounding Akello’s disappearance formed part of the prosecution’s case against Kimathi.
Investigations linked the accused to the killing
Investigators subsequently recovered Akello’s undergarments and a blood-stained top from a house in Savannah where Kimathi’s girlfriend, identified in court as Wairimu, lived.
The medical evidence also helped establish the circumstances of her death.
A postmortem examination revealed that Akello had sustained a cut at the back of her head and bruises on her neck. The examination established that she died from neck compression caused by manual strangulation.
The prosecution, led by Millicent Kigira, called 17 witnesses during the trial to establish the circumstances of the abduction, ransom demands and murder.
In his judgment, Justice Kimondo found that the evidence demonstrated that Akello had been deliberately lured, abducted and held for ransom before being killed.
The judge consequently found Kimathi guilty of murder under Section 203, read together with Section 204 of the Penal Code.
Second accused absconded
The case also involved a second accused person who had been released on bail but subsequently absconded.
The court directed that the proceedings continue in her absence.
Kimathi’s sentencing marks a major development in a case that began more than 14 years ago, following the disappearance and killing of the university student.
The circumstances surrounding Akello’s death included a planned meeting, an abduction, ransom negotiations with her family and forensic evidence presented during the trial.
The court’s decision followed its finding that the prosecution had established Kimathi’s responsibility for the murder.
