The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) on November 10, 2023, announced that a minor aged 16, had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for murder.
Notably, the sentencing involved a minor, labelled as B.W, whose horrific actions sent shockwaves back in 2022.
This was after the minor confessed to committing murder on four separate occasions, all by herself.
A solemn chapter that unearthed an unsettling series of events led to the minor’s grim confession that shattered the peaceful veneer of familial trust.
However, the outcome tied to a web of tragic incidents, will forever mar her youthful years.
Found guilty of the cousin’s murder, B.W was sentenced to a decade behind bars.
“The sentence will be served for the first 2 years at a borstal institution and the remaining 8 years at Langata Women Prison, at which the minor will have attained the age of majority,” noted ODPP.
However, the sentencing isn’t the end of the chilling narrative, according to the young girl’s confession back in 2022.
Dripping with the stark details of unspeakable acts, the confession portrayed her as the architect of a string of horrors that unfurled within her family circle.
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How the Minor Accomplished the Heinous Acts
How could a girl so young, so seemingly innocent, orchestrate such heinous deeds under the radar of suspicion?
Kenyans were left amazed in 2022 after a shocking incident where the then form one student allegedly murdered her three siblings and a cousin in a one-year span.
“The juvenile admitted to having committed the murders, before Kikuyu sub-county children’s officer. She is currently in custody at Kikuyu Police station as detectives process her for arraignment,” the DCI reported then.
According to her confession at Kikuyu Police Station, she first revealed to having murdered her cousin.
B.W murdered her cousin, who was 20 months old, by drowning him in a well at Gathiga village, Kabete Sub County.
Notably, this is the case in which she has since been found guilty of.
Based on her confession then, the minor described how she murdered her immediate sister on August 7, 2021, while at their home in Gikambura.
She further described strangling her 5-year-old sister, Valeria Muthoni, using a pillow placed over her face.
Additionally, she narrated the agonizing moments, revealing how she managed to suffocate her sister until her heart ceased to beat.
In her confession, the minor revealed that the horror commenced on July 14, 2021, at their Gikambura residence.
The accused, in her grim account, detailed the suffocation of her brother, Liam Gichuhi aged one year three months.
With a pillow over his face, she confessed to pressing down for three to four excruciating minutes, only ceasing when she confirmed the halt of his breathing.
Likewise, she would then go on to cover Liam with a blanket, sealing his tragic fate.
According to the police report, the darkest chapter unfolded on September 25, 2021, still at their residence.
“In a confession by the minor at Kikuyu Police station, the suspect confessed to detectives how she murdered her kin aged 15 months, 5 years and 7 years in 2021,” a statement by the DCI noted then.
Minor Murders Third Sibling
She also described the unimaginable horror inflicted upon her seven-and-a-half-month-old sister, Rachael Wanjiru.
The minor confessed to having her hands tightened around the child’s neck for an agonizing ten minutes, ending her life in a harrowing act of brutality.
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To add to the horror, she narrated drowning Rachael in a basin filled with water in the bathroom.
B.W would then go on to pour scalding hot water on Rachael’s face, sealing an unfathomable end to her young life.
Minor Sentenced
According to the Kenyan law, any person found guilty of murder is ordinarily sentenced to death.
However, a minor found guilty of such heinous acts, no matter how monstrous, is shielded from the death sentence under Section 25 (2) of the Penal Code.
Rehabilitation becomes the focus, as the judiciary endeavors to navigate the complexities of justice for a young offender mired in a vortex of tragedy.