Detectives in Nyeri, investigating the murder of Daniel Mwangi Wang’ondu, now believe his death may have been motivated by desire for insurance compensation.
Mwangi’s father, Stephen Wang’ondu Kinini, who is currently being detained by police in Nyeri, is said to have started processing compensation claims from an insurance company a few days after the burial of his son.
Detectives are also investigating whether Wang’ondu’s decision to invite his son’s estranged wife to his house may have led to Mwangi’s killing.
The current investigation has also triggered police interest in the death of Wang’ondu’s other son in 1995, after which he was allegedly paid a good amount of money by an insurance firm.
Eighteen-year-old Emmanuel Thuita Wang’ondu, then a Form Three student at Kiaganja Secondary School in Nyeri County, is said to have drowned in one of the dams in Wang’ondu’s expansive farm.
A few days after Thuita’s death, Wang’ondu is said to have lodged a compensation claim with an insurance company with which he had insured members of his family and property.
Detectives now believe Wang’ondu may have had a hand in the boy’s downing in order to get insurance compensation.
“He made millions of shillings through insurance after Emmanuel’s death. We find it ironic that he intended to use the same formula he used in the death of the other son to seek compensation after the death of Mwangi,” one of the detectives conversant with the case told People Daily.
Insurance compensation Police have reopened the investigation file on Emmanuel’s death.
In the case of Mwangi, Wang’ondu is said to have started the compensation process on January 18, 2021, barely 12 days after his son’s burial. Mwangi was killed on December 31, 2020, and was buried on January 6.