A former Kenya Commercial Bank director Leonard Mwithiga has been arrested and charged in Connecticut, US for planning the murder of his wife to bring other family members back home.
Dr Mwithiga was on Tuesday charged in court with criminal attempt and intimidation of a witness, conspiracy to commit murder, and criminal attempt, murder with special circumstances.
“This man had a plan to kill his wife. I think he poses a serious threat not only to his wife but also his children,” the prosecutor said in court.
According to court documents, the wife and children left Kenya because he was abusive. The documents further stated that Dr Mwithiga said he wanted to “fight evil with evil” and was to pay USD 4000 to the killer.
Dr Mwithiga went to Connecticut and has been staying in a motel since September this year. For three months, between September 9 and December 1, he on several occasions planned how the family member would be murdered early next year, when he will have returned to Kenya.
The senior banker initially confided in someone that he had family issues and was considering harming a family member. The informant however sensed a red flag and started recording the conversations after he told him that he needed someone who was a killer.
On Saturday, an undercover state trooper posed as a hitman and offered to do the job. Mwithiga, oblivious of the plan, agreed to meet him at Motel 6 Milford in Connecticut on Saturday and identified the person to be murdered, and the conditions.
According to NBC Connecticut, court documents showed that Mwithiga on October 26 contacted the man and asked if he knew someone who could “hit” the family member. He further contacted him on November 3 and December 1. The “hitman” was supposed to take the victim on a date and drug her. Mwithiga, in several recorded conversations that were presented in court on Tuesday, said he needed a hitman who would hit that family member and “put that woman down and finish her.”
He further told the informant that he needed someone who is a killer who would put some injection on “her food or water that would kill her slowly like cancer.” Mwithiga had wanted the family member to be killed between January 28, 2024, and February 3, 2024, when he will already have come back to Kenya so that he would not be seen as the main suspect
Mwithiga maintained his innocence in court and said he was in Connecticut to settle some court proceedings and was due to return to Kenya today, Thursday. Hon. Kevin Shay, a Judge at the Danielson Superior Court, said Dr Mwithiga was accused of a murder-for-hire plan and gave the accused a hefty bond of USD 5 million with stringent terms.
If Mwithiga manages to post bond, he must turn in his passport, wear GPS monitoring, and be under house arrest. There is also a protective order in place. The judge referred to Mwithiga as “an extreme flight risk.”
Police said witnesses had recorded statements and that there was sufficient proof that the senior banker plotted the murder of a family member. Dr Mwithiga 52, is a former Group Director-Shared Services at National Bank of Kenya Ltd and the director of Information Technology at KCB Bank Kenya Ltd.
Mwithiga’s next court date is scheduled for January 26
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