A former prisons officer has been found guilty of killing a student and driving off with her body for two kilometres.

Dismas Gitenge Motongwa knocked down Maureen Wambui on Mombasa Road and dumped her body in South C.

Milimani presiding magistrate Elector Riany was told that Wambui, who was pregnant, and her boyfriend Dennis Mburu were crossing the road from a mall at about 4am on July 15, last year.

Mburu jumped over a trench outside the mall to join Mombasa Road but his 22-year-old girlfriend used the main path to join the road.

“She stepped on the tarmac ahead of me so I decided to follow her because the road was clear. Before she made it to the other side and before I could make any step myself, I saw a speeding red car hit her.”

Mburu saw Wambui's body land on the roof of the car and tried to chase the car, but "the driver did not stop".

He searched the area hoping to see her and take her to hospital. After failing to find her, he went to search for her in hospitals.

He eventually found the body dumped near a car dealer in South C. Police officers were already at the scene. Next to her body was a number plate which was later picked by the accused. He had arrived on a motorbike.

The accused had reported to Lang'ata police station that he hit a cow and wanted an abstract form to go repair his car. An officer at the station asked him to avail the vehicle but the accused said it could not be moved.

“On insisting, Motongwa availed the same vehicle he said could not be driven and even presented the blood-covered number plate from the boot, an indication that he had taken it from the scene,” the magistrate ruled.

The number plate had blood that was confirmed to belong to the deceased.

“The accused's defence was full of lies. What cow would be on the highway at 4am? That was a joke stretched too far,” the magistrate said.

Motongwa had maintained that he had hit an animal to avoid hitting a man.

He said the man (Mburu) was crisscrossing the road and he changed lanes thrice to avoid knocking him down.

A witness contradicted his statement saying the boyfriend was just standing on the road during the accident.

“They presented the boyfriend to look like a drunk when he is one who, after the accident, found deceased's shoe at the scene, checked the road, even went to hospitals, until he was directed to South C where the body was,” the magistrate said.

The accused had admitted that he did not stop since he was armed with a gun, and thought that it was a robbery trick.

He claimed to have been driving on lane 1 but a CCTV footage showed that he was on lane 2 where the accident happened.

The footage also showed his car stop in South C, where he struggled to remove the body and in the process, his number plate came off.

“No one intends to cause an accident, but the way one handles the case after is what matters,” Riany said.

The magistrate found the accused guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and giving false information to a person employed in the public service. He will sentence the accused on July 1 after receiving a probation report.

“Losing a young member of the family is depressing. Every time our parents hear what happens in court, they get sick. Even today, we are in court but won’t let them know,” Ruth Njoki, the deceased's sister, said.

-The Star