Starlet Wahu murder: Four witnesses testify as prosecution builds case against John Matara

The murder trial of John Matara took a new turn on Wednesday as four fresh witnesses took the stand, offering new details on the night socialite Starlet Wahu was killed in a South B apartment in January 2024.

The prosecution, led by Della Wilbey, Sarah Ogweno, and Peris Maina, called a clinical officer, a forensic video analyst and two security guards to give their accounts before the Milimani High Court.

Matara is accused of murdering Wahu on the night of January 3, 2024. Her body was found the following morning inside a short-stay apartment she had entered with him the previous evening.

A postmortem revealed she had been strangled and sustained a severe thigh injury that cut through a vein.

Clinical Officer Isaiah Olang was the first to testify. He narrated how, at around 11:00 pm that night, he attended to a male patient who had two stab wounds on the right thigh and right hand.

He said the man, identified in court as the accused, seemed intoxicated when he arrived at South B Hospital.

Olang and three colleagues administered first aid to stop the bleeding, provided painkillers and issued a referral letter to Mbagathi Hospital for further treatment. The patient stayed at the facility for less than two hours.

The second witness, police constable Elizabeth Njuguna, told the court she received CCTV footage from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on January 9, 2024, for forensic analysis.

She reviewed nine video clips and produced 23 still images dated January 23, 2024.

The footage, which she confirmed had not been tampered with, showed a man wearing a black cap, a bluish long-sleeved shirt, brown trousers and carrying a red bag entering the apartment with a woman on the evening of January 3, 2024.

At 10:09 pm, the same man appeared alone in the corridor with a white cloth around his neck. He briefly waited near the lift, used the stairs to the third floor, then took the lift to the ground floor.

Footage showed what looked like a bloodstain on his leg as he left through the main entrance at 10:11 pm.

Njuguna explained that she could not conclusively identify the recordings.

Two security guards, Joseph Ndungi and George Gitau, were the final witnesses to testify. Ndungi, who was stationed at a nearby apartment, told the court he saw a man leaving the building that night wearing a blue T-shirt, a white towel and khaki trousers, with what looked like blood on his legs.

Concerned, he contacted Gitau, who was on duty at the apartment where Wahu’s body was later found, to ask if he had seen the man, but he had not. The two then reviewed the CCTV footage and traced the man’s movement from the fourth floor.

Following a trail of blood, they reached door number Y32, which was locked. Gitau called the apartment owner, who arrived with a spare key.

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When they opened the door, they found the naked body of a woman lying on the floor. Blood stretched from the bedroom to the sitting room, and the body had visible injuries on the neck.

Ndungi told the court that the man he saw leaving the building matched the person in the dock.

Gitau confirmed Ndungi’s account and explained that he did not see the suspect leaving the building because he was checking the water tanks at the time.

The murder trial has been ongoing at the Milimani High Court since early 2024. Matara was arrested while undergoing treatment in a Nairobi hospital after CCTV footage placed him as the key suspect.

The hearing is set to continue on Thursday, October 2, 2025, with three more witnesses expected to take the stand.