Appearing before High Court judge Joel Ngugi, he was accused of killing Susan Njambi on January 24 in Thindigua Estate, Kiambu. He was charged with others not before the court. She was raped, doused with acid, forced to drink a corrosive substance and left for dead.
Ndung’u pleaded not guilty and requested to be freed on bond. The prosecution opposed his release. It said Ndung’u might interfere with witnesses, who are close family members of the deceased.
Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru said if freed he would make “the victims apprehensive when testifying against him”.
“The vulnerable victims are five. Release of the accused will make them feel threatened. The court should also put them under the witness protection programme,” he said.
But Ndung’u’s lawyer Robert Mutito said he has been cooperative since January 24, when he was arrested. Ndung’u hasn’t interfered with police probe or family members, he said.
“He has not and will not interfere with the witnesses,” Mutito said.
Ndung’u asked that he be detained in Kiambu police cells, where it would be convenient for him to get medication because he has asthma.
Judge Ngugi ruled, however, that he be remanded at the Nairobi Remand Home and provided with medical attention. He scheduled bond terms hearing for February 19 and told the prosecution to file witness affidavits about their protection, and serve the defence within three days.
Ndung’u was arrested after Njambi reported he and other two men assaulted and raped her, then doused her face with acid. She sustained more than 70 per cent burns. Njambi said they had picked her from her home in Thindigua Estate in Kiambu town.
The mother of a four-year-old boy was later abandoned at an isolated coffee farm near Kamiti Corner along the Kiambu-Ruiru road. She crawled to the main road, where good Samaritans took her to Kiambu police and later to Kiambu Level-Five Hospital. She died at KNH.