When the late Stephen Wang’ondu planned to murder his son, he tasked his driver with putting together a gang that would carry out the gruesome murder. The gang included four men, who according to the Director of Criminal Investigations, have admitted to taking part in the murder. These are Eddy Kariuki, Geoffrey Warutumo, Raphael Wachira, and James Mwangi.
A down payment of Sh. 100,000 was paid to the gang. The DCI says in court papers that this money was used to construct a two room house by Eddy. Another Sh. 20,000 is said to have been used by Raphael to purchase household goods including a sub woofer.
Nyeri tycoon may have murdered two sons to earn insurance money
The gang is reported to have met at a popular hotel in Nyeri town on December 31. Wang’ondu’s driver had then left and went to a hardware shop in the nearby Mweiga town where he bought a metal rod. It is the metal rod that was used to kill Wang’ondu’s son, Daniel Mwangi Wang’ondu. The DCI has also told the court that Wang’ondu had earlier on paid some Sh. 20,000 to his driver to facilitate the murder plot.
Mwangi was found murdered on January 1, this year. So puzzling was the motive behind his murder, that nothing had been stolen from him or his house, not even his Volkswagen Golf car beside which he lay lifeless. His father, Stephen Wang’ondu, is said to have started processing compensation claims from an insurance company a few days after the burial of his son. He is said to have started the compensation process on January 18, 2021, barely 12 days after his son’s burial.
“The investigation also triggered police interest in the death of the late Nyeri tycoon’s other son in 1995, after which he was allegedly paid a good amount of money by an insurance firm. Eighteen-year-old Emmanuel Thuita Wang’ondu, then a Form Three student at Kiaganja Secondary School in Nyeri County, is said to have drowned in one of the dams in Wang’ondu’s expansive farm. A few days after Thuita’s death, Wang’ondu is said to have lodged a compensation claim with an insurance company with which he had insured members of his family and property,” a report that appeared on K24 said.