Kitui priest in murder case to know fate today
A former Kitui Catholic priest, who was charged with attempted murder of his girlfriend and child six years ago will know his fate today.
Kitui Chief Magistrate Stephen Mbungi was initially expected to deliver the judgment on May 24 but postponed it to today, citing a power blackout that had occasioned his failure to type the judgment at the time.
Father Japheth Kimanzi, who was then serving as the priest in-charge of Kabati Parish in Kitui is accused of attacking and severely injuring a schoolgirl he had fathered a child with in a bid to conceal his philandering ways.
Father Kimanzi also injured the child during the attack at Tulia village in Kitui West constituency.
The victim, Veronica Mutua, 23, told the court that on the fateful day of attack on November 16, 2015, the priest had invited her to his Kabati parish allegedly to make peace and discuss the upkeep and specialised medical attention for the sickly child.
Permanent disability
On arrival, the Father changed plans and instructed her to meet him at his village home in Tulia, only to attack her and the child.
“I recognised my attacker was the same priest who had invited me to their home for reconciliation.
I shouted his name but he responded by hitting my child who was still on my back on the head and blood started oozing from her nose,” she narrated to court.
Both mother and baby miraculously survived the attack but the latter suffered permanent disability including loss of sight, damaged brain and crippled legs. The girl named Lilian Mwikali is today both deaf and blind.
At the time, Veronica was 15 years and a Form One student at Mwambu Mixed Secondary School in Mwingi.
