The High Court of Kenya sitting in Kibera on Monday 23 June declared that Multi-media University student Eric Mutinda who is accused of killing his girlfriend, Sylvia Kemunto is unfit to stand trial.
The determination follows a psychiatric evaluation at Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital and the findings presented in court.
According to the psychiatrist’s report, Mutinda denied committing the crime but acknowledged he had been charged with the murder of his girlfriend and fellow student, Sylvia Kemunto.
The report further described him as fairly groomed and cooperative but with difficulty in comprehension, adding that his speech was low in tone and pitch and that his history was considered unreliable.
“He is not fit to plead and recommended further corroborative history from his next of kin to complete the evaluation,” the doctor stated in the report.
In light of the findings, the judge ordered that Mutinda be returned to Mathari Hospital for further evaluation.
The Prisons Department has been instructed to ensure he is accompanied by a family member during the next assessment.
Mutinda is at the center of a high-profile murder case involving Kemunto, also a first-year student who was pursuing a course in Mass Communications and Computer Science.
She went missing on March 30, 2025, only for her body to be discovered days later in a rooftop water tank at an MMU hostel.
A postmortem examination revealed she died from strangulation and also suffered blunt-force trauma to the head.
Investigations indicated that Mutinda was the last person seen with Kemunto; he is alleged to have strangled her, hid her body in a suitcase for nearly 24 hours, and later disposed of it in the water reservoir.
After the incident, Mutinda reportedly fled to Sultan Hamud in Makueni County but eventually surrendered to the police in Mtito Andei.
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