‘I killed Catholic priest because he sodomized me’

NAIROBI – The main suspect in the case of Father Michael Maingi Kyengo, a Catholic priest county who was killed and his body buried in a shallow grave in Kenya has pleaded with the court to forgive him after admitting that he killed the man of God over sodomy.

Muthini told the court that he knew father Kyengo in 2017 during a mass session he participated in at Mbingoni Catholic church.

The accused, through his lawyer Kirimi Guantai, said that it was in 2017 during a seminar before the beginning of the mass the father beckoned and asked to see him after the mass.

He said after the mass, he went to see him as earlier agreed and the father told him that he wanted to talk to him and since he had no time he gave Muthini his number so that he could call him later.

While at home, Muthini called Father Kyengo and the late father told him that if the number he had called him with was his, then he would call him later.

He informed the court that father Kyengo would become closer to him that he started visiting, texting and calling him on regular basis.

After supper, Muthini said he proceeded to the bathroom to clean it so that the father could take shower.

Muthini went on and told the court that while cleaning the bathroom, the father called him and told him that it was better if they could take some juice first which he had already served in two glasses and the father pushed one glass to him.

The accused said without any suspicion he emptied his glass and proceeded to the bathroom only to start feeling dizzy. He revealed to court that he informed the deceased and fell asleep.

He said he regained consciousness and woke up at 3;30 am with a lot of pain around his anal areas and a watery discharge around his buttocks.

Muthini told court that he found the late father seated next to him while naked and smiling and on realizing that he had been sodomized he asked the father why he had done that to him and the deceased told him that he had not done it hard since he knew he was not used to it.

”He went ahead to caress me and told me that he had every right to do whatever he wanted as I had no means of repaying him what he had done for me earlier,” Muthini told the court.

Muthini said that when the father realised that he had become angry, he stood up, dressed, took his briefcase and as he was going towards the door he told him in Swahili, as he left;

”Kama nimekuumiza pole sana ,chukua hio pesa nimeweka juu ya meza ukanunue dawa chemist .Wacha nikimbie kazi tutaongea”

Muthini said he felt disillusioned in living, ashamed to tell anybody and he said he wanted to commit suicide.

He said he called the father the next day and threatened him that he would go to the parish where the father worked to report him.

Muthini said the father pleaded with him not to report as it would interfere with his work. He promised to visit him the following week so that they could solve the matter in an amicable way.

The accused informed the court that on October 9, 2019, at around 8;30 pm, the father arrived at his house drunk and with a lot of snobs he told him that he was poor and he only needed his money and he had nowhere to run. Muthini said he felt insulted this time round.

”Instead of asking for forgiveness, he came towards me and started caressing me. When I resisted, he held me by force and that is when we started struggling,” Muthini said before the court.

He narrated to court how the deceased father dipped his hand into his briefcase and took out a blue-ish plastic bottle, opened it and told him he better calm down since ”they were sharing the same statuses”.

Muthini said that the late priest hit him to the ground and that is the time he realised that the priest was going to kill him to erase the evidence.

Muthini informed the court that he fell where the panga was and as the priest was holding his throat he reached the panga and cut his neck.

”When I cut him, he released me and I thought he would stand but realised that he was over bleeding and within seconds he stopped breathing. That is when I realised that he was dead,” Muthini told court.

Father Michael Kyengo ‘disappeared’ on October 8, 2019, and was found murdered on October 16 and his body buried in a shallow grave in Masamba seasonal river in Makima Mbeere South, Embu county.

Michael Muthini was arrested at Kiboko along Nairobi’s Mombasa road on October 11 by DCI detectives while driving the priest’s car and he led the detectives to where father Kyengo’s body was buried.

The arrest of the suspect consequently led to the arrest of his accomplices Kavivya Mwangangi and Solomon Mutava.

Embu High court judge Lucy Njuguna ordered a victim impact report to be tabled in court on November 8, 2021, before the judgement date is set.

He told the court that the late father even took the burden of paying his college fees and provided all his basic needs.

”We would share meals and drinks together,” Muthini narrated to court through his lawyer.

Muthini said he would refer to the father as his big brother and upon calling him ”bro” the father would reply by calling him ”My dear” or ”Sweetheart”.

The accused informed the court that trouble started when the father visited his rented house at Gategi in Mbeere South for the first time.

”In September 2019 the late father called me and informed me that he was at Mwea town and said that he was going to stay at my place overnight as it was late for him to drive for a long-distance via a rough road as he was headed to Machakos,” Muthini said before the court.

He narrated that after about 40 minutes, the father had arrived at the house and he came with shopping as he was used to and Muthini was happy. Muthini prepared supper which they ate together.