A man who stabbed his girlfriend in Nairobi's Pipeline area in January last year has been freed after the victim withdrew the case at the Makadara law courts.

Alfred Nyadera Nyakwama had been charged with attempted murder after he tortured Jane Mutheu for four hours before stabbing her several times in the head, shoulders, hands and back with a knife.

The court heard that on the wee hours of the fateful night, the accused came and knocked at the victim's door.

When she went to open the door she was pushed inside by the accused who removed a knife from his pocket and started stabbing her.

For four hours, he tortured her and forced her to call the male contacts on her phone book he suspected she was having an affair with.

Efforts by neighbours to access the room were futile as he had padlocked the door from the inside.

The following morning, Nyakwama escaped and went into hiding in  Kisii county where he was arrested a month later.

Mutheu had testified how she was forced to wipe the blood in her room before the accused escaped.

However, when the matter came up for hearing on Friday, Mutheu filed an application to withdraw the matter.

She told the court she had decided to forgiven her ex-lover as she had fully recovered from the injuries and had decided to move on.

The application was strongly objected to by state counsel Jacklyn Kisoo, who said the severity of the case did not warrant its withdrawal.

“Your owner, when the matter came up for plea, it elicited reaction and this a matter of great public interest. So far, two witnesses have testified, including the victim. I ask the court to dismiss the application,” she said.

Kisoo said such cases are on the rise and there was a need for the matter to proceed so the accused could serve as an example.

Chief magistrate Heston Nyaga said he clearly understood the objection by the state but accepted the application.

He said the victim had narrated how the accused attacked her after he refused to accept that she had left him for another man.

"...the victim has decided to withdraw the case. I have asked myself if the victim is willing to withdraw the matter as they have settled and she is ready to move on, [so] whose justice will the court be pursuing?” he asked, accepting the application.

-The Star/ Corazon Wafula