{"id":138546,"date":"2026-04-21T15:03:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/court-told-key-phone-evidence-in-starlet-wahu-murder-case-was-wiped\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:03:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:03:05","slug":"court-told-key-phone-evidence-in-starlet-wahu-murder-case-was-wiped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/court-told-key-phone-evidence-in-starlet-wahu-murder-case-was-wiped\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Told Key Phone Evidence in Starlet Wahu Murder Case Was Wiped"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 21 \u2013 A Nairobi court has been told that key data from the mobile phone of murder suspect John Matara was erased, potentially weakening digital evidence in the ongoing trial over the killing of socialite Starlet Wahu.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Investigators had sought to extract messages, images, videos and WhatsApp chats between Matara and the deceased covering the period between November 2023 and January 3, 2024. However, the court heard that no usable information was recovered from the device.<\/p>\n

Testifying before High Court Judge Alexander Muteti, Inspector Alex Chokera said digital forensic analysis confirmed that the phone had been formatted before examination.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time the phone was submitted for forensic analysis, there was no data available,\u201d he told the court.<\/p>\n

He further stated that the phone had already been wiped before investigators accessed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Lord, exhibit B, the accused person\u2019s phone was formatted before the time of extraction; hence, no desired data could be retrieved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Inspector Chokera told the court that he only received the device after it had already been formatted and was not aware when or how the data was erased.<\/p>\n

Under cross-examination, Matara\u2019s lawyer questioned the timing of the formatting and access to the phone\u2019s PIN, but the officer maintained that he was not responsible for erasing the data.<\/p>\n

The court also heard disturbing details about the circumstances surrounding the death of Starlet Wahu, who was allegedly murdered inside an unlicensed Airbnb in Nairobi\u2019s South B area.<\/p>\n

Apartment owner Florence Ngina testified that there were lapses in guest verification when Matara checked in, admitting that she did not record his identification details or issue a receipt, contrary to standard operating procedures.<\/p>\n

She told the court that Matara had been referred to the apartment by a woman identified as Jane after inquiring about a unit with a balcony.<\/p>\n

Ngina said suspicion arose after she received a call from Jane, who had been alerted by a security guard that the guest was leaving the premises hurriedly, wearing only a towel.<\/p>\n

Accompanied by Jane, another woman identified as Charity, and the guard, Ngina proceeded to the room occupied by Matara. After finding the door locked, she used a spare key to enter, where they allegedly found Wahu\u2019s body lying in a pool of blood.<\/p>\n

Police officers were called to the scene and documented the incident before Matara was later arrested at Mbagathi Hospital. The body was taken to the mortuary.<\/p>\n

Wahu, the sister of controversial preacher Victor Kanyari, was found dead at the South B apartment. Matara remains the prime suspect, with prosecutors alleging he fatally assaulted her inside the room.<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to conclude later this month, with the final witness set to testify on April 30, 2026.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 21 \u2013 A Nairobi court has been told that key data from the mobile phone of murder suspect John Matara was erased, potentially weakening digital evidence in the ongoing trial over the killing of socialite Starlet Wahu. Investigators had sought to extract messages, images, videos and WhatsApp chats between Matara and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}