The trial of a pastor linked to the Magu family deaths continued on Friday with a househelp saying she had spent four days at the home.
Margaret Njoki said before Kiambu principal magistrate Justus Kituku that pastor Ann Wanyoro went to the Magu’s Muthaiga home on November 16, 2014 and left on November 20.
Njoki said Wanyoro often stayed in the house talking to late lawyer Paul Magu, after which they would go to the servants quarter for prayers.
She said she did not think the pastor’s occasional visits were unusual but noted she had never stayed that long.
The couple neither quarreled, fought nor had marital difficulties in the three years she worked for them, she noted.
The househelp recounted that on November 20, Magu’s wife Lydia Wangui told her she was seeing Wanyoro off, and returned later.
She said that on November 23, Wangui sent her to buy a soda for her husband.
“I was given Sh100 to go buy a Stoney for Magu who had woken up early and dressed like someone who was going to church as it was a Sunday,” she said.
Njoki said she did not find Wangui at home when she returned about 10 minutes later. She said their children told her their mother had gone to church with the pastor and that Magu confirmed this.
“It puzzled me a bit since I had not seen her (Wanyoro) come and Wangui had not prepared herself as she was still in her night gown,” she said.
The househelp said Magu, who had not left for church, gave her Sh1,200 at about 10am that day and asked her to go to he city centre to buy porridge flour.
She said she went to Nyamakima but did not find the flour. The woman said she then went to Gikomba market where she bought the floor and returned to Muthaiga at about 1pm. She said she found Magu had changed into a shirt and shorts.
Njoki said that while in the kitchen, she noticed the leaves of an avocado tree were burnt. She said that upon going outside to check, she found that some flowers had also been burnt and noticed ashes under the family’s Mitsubishi Galant vehicle that had been parked outside the kitchen.
The househelp further told the court that Magu was often on phone and would wake up to go to work but would immediately return to the house and go straight to his bedroom.
Njoki said that on November 24, Magu returned home during the day and went straight to his bedroom.
She said he came out with a big sack that looked heavy and put it in his Toyota Prado, adding he left but did not return with the sack in the evening.
She said Wangui had not returned home the next day and that when one of the children asked for her, Magu offered no explanation offering instead to take them out for a treat.
“On that day Magu did not return with the kids. I overheard him talking on the phone saying he would pick them the next day,” she said.
Njoki said Magu did not eat anything in the house for four days and often talked with his children. She said he left home at about 7pm but did not return.
The househelp said Wanyoro told her in a phone call on November 26 that Magu had been attacked by thugs and taken to hospital in critical condition.
She said the pastor asked her to get into Magu’s room and look around but that she declined saying she had never been inside it.
Njoki said Magu’s brother and father later went to the home and informed her that he was dead. She said she told them of the instruction to open his room after which the brother did, finding blood on the ceiling and walls.
She said it was then that the search for Magu’s children began, as they were missing.
Magu allegedly killed his wife Lydia at their Muthaiga Pipeline home.
He is said to have also killed his children — Tiffany Wangui, Allen Magu and Ryan Muhiu — whose bodies were found in a coffee plantation near Tatu, Kiambu.
The hearing continues in June.
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