Case on Magu family deaths starts with shocking testimony
A case in which a pastor has been charged with causing the death of city lawyer Paul Magu, his wife and their three children started on Thursday with shocking testimonies from two witnesses.
It emerged that a few days to his death, Mr Magu behaved weirdly and his family had almost concluded that he had gone mad.
Mr Magu’s father, Samuel Muhiu, and his secretary, Ruth Njambi, both said the lawyer exhibited strange behavior around three weeks to his death in November 2014.
The suspect, Pastor Ms Ann Wambui Wanyoro is charged with aiding Mr Magu, his wife Lydia and three children’s to their deaths.
Ms Wanyoro has been charged that on diverse dates between 23rd and 25th November 2014 at Makongeni area in Thika, Kiambu, she procured Paul Magu Muhiu to kill himself. She has also been charged with having a hand in the death of Mr Magu’s wife Lydia and their children Allen, 9, Ryan, 8, and Tiffany Muthoni .
She was freed on a Sh2 million bond after she denied the charges.
IMPROMPTU VISIT
In Thursday’s court session, Mr Magu’s father, who was the first prosecution witness in the case, said his son had visited him a day before his death.
He told Kiambu Principal Magistrate Mr Justus Kituku that his son made an impromptu visit to their rural home in Kijango, Thika, at around 4pm driving a small vehicle which was unlike him.
Since Magu’s mother was away, he decided to prepare some tea for him, but his son took only a few sips and said he was feeling weak and had not eaten for two days.
“Since he told me that he was not leaving immediately, I decided to go the farm but he followed me. He appeared uneasy and kept loitering around the farm. Even the people who were around asked me that was wrong with him because that was not him character,” he recounted.
When they returned home, Mr Muhiu said he prepared supper which the deceased declined to eat.
Mr Magu then left on foot to allegedly attend a fundraiser with friends.
MUDDY CLOTHES
When he returned, his clothes were muddy and he told his father that they had been attacked by criminals.
Mr Magu proceeded to one of the rooms where, according Mr Muhiu, he kept screaming and talking to himself.
The next morning, Mr Muhiu went to a nearby shop where he bought milk and eggs to prepare a breakfast for his son considering that he had not taken any meal for three days
He returned and found him wearing his mother’s skirt and blouse.
Angry, he ordered him to remove them and gave him his own clothes. Mr Magu then wore the clothes before he driving off without bothering with the breakfast.
PHONE UNANSWERED
“I came to a conclusion that something was wrong with him and immediately called his other siblings and asked them to intercept him along the way but they never managed. We thought that reaching his wife was the easiest way but her phone went unanswered,” he recalled.
The second witness, Ms Njambi, who worked as Mr Magu’s secretary since 2011, said about two weeks to his death, the deceased used various excuses to keep her out of office.
For instance on November 13, 2014, Mr Magu asked her to take four-day leave which was very unusual.
OUT OF OFFICE
On the day that she was to resume, he again told her that it wasn’t right for her to use the office because it had been fumigated.
However, she went to the office without his knowledge and established that no fumigation had been done. This made her suspect that her boss only wanted her out of office.
She told the court that she had seen her boss together with the accused on various occasions, saying the two used to fellowship at Faith and Holiness Church, in Kawaida, Banana.
The deaths in the Magu family drew media interest after his wife, Lydia Wangui, went missing on November 23, 2014 and her partially burnt body was later found dumped in a thicket at Paradise Lost along Kiambu Road.
The body of their last born daughter Tiffany was found at a coffee plantation in Ruiru, while the decomposed bodies of the two sons Allen and Ryan were later found in a thicket at Tatu City.
The case will continue Friday with the deceased brother, Mr Andrew Muhiu, and his househelp, Margaret Njoki, expected to testify.
