Man who hired hitman to kill ex-wife loses appeal

What began as a love story in 1979 between David Nyamongo and a woman he would later marry unravelled decades later into a dark chapter of domestic betrayal and revenge — ending in murder and a 30-year prison sentence.

The couple had been married for over 20 years and had six children. But in 2002, their union began falling apart.

One of the children caught her mother in the act of infidelity. 

Confronted, the wife admitted the affair to her husband. Furious, Nyamongo beat her up and she fled with all the children to live with her parents.

The couple remained estranged for nearly a decade. But Nyamongo never recovered from the betrayal.

In 2010, he plotted her murder and hired a killer for Sh50,000.

Court documents say he gave the hitman directions on how to find and identify the woman.

Together with an accomplice, the killer lured her to a secluded location, called Nyamongo to the scene, and executed the plan. The assassin was paid Sh32,000.

He and the accomplice were arrested. But the accomplice escaped from prison and remains at large.

In 2018, Nyamongo was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He maintained his innocence.

He spoke of their long marriage, their children, and the painful separation that followed her betrayal.

He would never have allowed her body to be buried at his home if he had been responsible for her death. But the courts found differently.

The High Court delivered a guilty verdict based on the testimony of the hired killer and other evidence.

This month, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and sentence, citing malice aforethought. Nyamongo had vowed to his children he would kill their mother.

“It is implicit that the learned judge would have imposed a higher sentence but for the fact that the appellant had already been in custody during the pendency of the trial,” the judgment reads.

“Consequently, the appeal against sentence fails as well.”