On 8th August 2026, Scarlet Wahu’s prime murder suspect, John Matara, testified in court about how he met the deceased, Scarlet Wahu.
Matara explained that he met Wahu through an online dating app where she was registered.
“I met Starlet Wahu at BedEscorts.com, a website where prostitutes or commercial sex workers advertise themselves online to solicit clients,” Matara told the court.
After seeing Wahu’s profile, Matara reached out to her via a phone number she had displayed on her dating site. Wahu informed him that she charges KSH 35,000 as her hookup fee per night.
“I stumbled upon her website around July or August 2023, and I liked her advert. I liked the way she looked; she was beautiful. I got in contact with her through a number provided on the website. I contacted her on WhatsApp, and she sent me her nude photos, as is the norm with online prostitution. I’m quite used to it, so I liked what I saw. We started having a conversation; she told me she charges 35K for a hookup per night.”
They arranged their first meetup around July or August 2023 at Sankara Hotel in Westlands, where he paid her KSH 35,000 for her services.
They met again in December 2023 at the same hotel, where he paid KSH 20,000, leaving an unpaid balance of KSH 15,000.
“We planned to meet again in December 2023 at Sankara Hotel in Westlands, which we did. We spent the night together, had drinks, fun, and sex. This time, I paid her KSH 20,000, leaving a balance of KSH 15,000, which I promised to clear at our next hookup since we were getting along very well. We were growing more and more fond of each other, and I really liked her.”
On 1st January 2024, Matara reached out to Wahu to arrange another meeting. She agreed to meet on 3rd January, provided he cleared the previous KSH 15,000 debt and secured an Airbnb with a balcony in South B.
“So, come 1st January 2024, it was the New Year’s festivities and I figured I could spend some time again with her. I contacted her on the first and proposed we meet to celebrate the new year. We agreed to meet sometime on 3rd January 2024.”
On the afternoon of January 3, Matara booked Unit Y32 at Papino Apartments via Jiji.co.ke.
He checked in around 5:00 PM, paid KSH 3,200 in cash to the host’s representative, Angelica, and signed the visitors’ book.
Starlet arrived around 8:00 PM in a red Uber. Matara went downstairs, paid KSH 350 for the Uber fare, and helped her upstairs after they purchased a 750ml bottle of Hunter’s Choice whisky from a nearby liquor store.
“At around 8 PM, Starlet called me and told me she had arrived at Papino Apartments and was waiting in the parking lot outside.”
He quickly went down, exited the apartment into the parking lot, and spotted the red Uber she had mentioned.
Inside the apartment, they drank whisky, listened to music, recorded short erotic videos on their phones, and took photos for Starlet’s OnlyFans account.
“We sat in the living room sofa, hugged and kissed. She told me she had missed me, and I told her I had missed her more. We relaxed, caressed, and within a few minutes, we were completely naked.”
She asked him to set his phone on recording mode on the edge of the sofa set next to the door, so as to record them in erotic actions, something she had introduced from their first hookup. They set the phone to record while having sex, and later, they would connect to the Android screen to watch themselves.
“Whether later in the night or the following morning, it was fun and enjoyable, I was getting addicted to it.”
After setting up the recording, she asked him to take nude photos of her in various erotic positions, something they had done before using her phone. She also had an OnlyFans account where she posted these photos as a side hustle. Since he was skilled in graphic design and computer programming, he would occasionally help her edit, manage, and optimize the account.
Before engaging in consensual sex, they took an HIV test, which returned negative.
Matara said that while Starlet requested to have sex without protection, he insisted on using condoms.
“We then did an HIV test, and both turned out negative. She insisted on the test because she wanted us to go raw without condoms, but after the test, I changed my mind and insisted we use condoms, which I had brought along.”
They had sex using condoms. After the first round, they relaxed on the bed, sipping whisky.
Following their intimacy, a dispute over payment emerged when Starlet suddenly demanded to leave and insisted on immediate payment of the KSH 15,000 debt.
“After a few minutes, she suddenly said she wanted to leave and that I had to pay her the full amount, her KSH 15,000 debt plus the KSH 35,000 hookup fee, totaling KSH 50,000.”
Starlet then grew hysterical, hurled verbal abuse, and threatened that he would not leave the room alive unless he paid in full.
Matara transferred KSH 20,000 via M-Pesa and explained he would pay the remaining balance the following morning after receiving an expected KSH 100,000 payment for an app development project.
“She kept insisting I pay her immediately, calling me all sorts of abusive names, ‘you poor dog,’ ‘rotten c**nt,’ ‘motherfucker’, saying I had to pay her, and that no one would get out alive if I didn’t. I then sent her KSH 20,000 on M-Pesa and begged her to calm down, assuring her I would pay the remaining 30K the next morning since I was expecting a 100K payment for an app project I had been working on. But she didn’t seem convinced and remained angry.”
Matara claimed she eventually appeared to calm down. He went briefly to the washroom, and upon returning, approached her to reconcile.
She gently pushed him onto the bed, and as he fell back, expecting further intimacy, he suddenly felt multiple sharp, severe pains in his thighs.
“We then went back to relaxing and finishing up the drink. Since we had just had sex, I needed to release myself, so I went to the washroom for a short call. When I returned, I opened the bedroom door and found Starlet standing between the bed and the wardrobe.”
He approached her, intending to hug her, but she gave him a gentle push onto the bed. He followed, closing his eyes, thinking they were just about to have their next round of sex.
“Suddenly, I felt multiple sharp pains on my thighs. I quickly folded my thighs upwards and rolled onto the bed (still naked). She followed with multiple stabs, and I still didn’t know what was happening or what she was holding.”
He then fell to the floor on the other side of the bed, hitting his head very hard. Before he understood what was happening, Starlet was standing over him, legs astride, stabbing him multiple times.
He folded his arms across his chest to cover himself from the stabs. At that moment, blood spilled profusely, and he was in great fear and panic. Confused and terrified, he realized she was holding a knife.
During the struggle, he tried to grab the knife by the blade but she pulled it through his palms, cutting them multiple times.
“I didn’t know what to do. I then propelled myself using my elbows, sliding between her legs, blood streaming down. I managed to get behind her and ran to the living room, with Starlet chasing after me.”
In the living room, she chased him around the table a couple of times. At one point, she stopped, appearing tired. Both of them were panting heavily; she continued shouting abuses at the top of her voice, while he tried to scream for help.
“Due to the loud music, I never saw any help coming. I never at any moment handled that knife; I was defenseless, and it overpowered me.”
I dodged, she slid, and fell behind me. At that point, our bodies were covered in my blood, which was also all over the living room. I had a chance to pick my clothes my denim and khaki trousers and quickly headed toward the exit door.
Luckily, my shoes were next to the door, and I grabbed my phone from the sofa where we had set it. I also took a towel from the same sofa because I was bleeding profusely and needed to stop the bleeding.
I stepped out of the room, narrowly missing her, as she was behind me trying to prevent my exit. She shut the door behind me, shouting and hurling abuses, saying, “Let me dress up and come out; you are not going to leave this apartment alive if you don’t pay me my money.”
I quickly dressed just outside the last room, which was a dead end, and headed toward the lift on the fourth floor. The lift was delayed, and I was in great pain, confused, struggling to walk properly because of the deep stabs on both thighs.
I rested on the rails on the fourth floor, waiting for the lift to open. A few seconds later, I heard her shouting again from outside. I struggled and limped down the stairs to the third floor.
When I arrived at the third floor, the lift luckily opened, and I hurried inside with the few people present, who looked shocked seeing me covered in blood. They asked what had happened, and I angrily told them I had been stabbed by a thug referring to her. They advised me to report the incident at the security office on the ground floor.
By the time I reached the ground floor, I was feeling dizzy, weak, and could see the security office was empty.
I didn’t linger, walking in great pain toward the exit and leaving through the same entrance I used earlier. My main concern was getting medical help, as my life was slipping away.
I exited the apartment, entered the parking lot, took a left through the corridor next to the attic apartment, and emerged on the other side at Stage C. I tried to wave down any nearby transport for medical assistance, calling my sister, and told her everything this time, fully disclosing what had happened.
I stopped a motorbike; the rider looked at me, saw I was covered in blood, and asked what had happened. But I was gasping for air, dizzy, and in so much pain that I couldn’t speak. He sped off. I then tried to stop another rider, this one carrying a passenger who also sped off without stopping.
Finally, another bike with two riders stopped, and they asked what had happened. I explained I had been attacked and stabbed by a thug.
They offered to help and helped me onto their bike. One rider, supporting me from behind, introduced himself as Opondu, a boda boda rider from South B, and assured me everything would be fine, offering comfort.
At the medical facility, I collapsed at the entrance, barely able to hear the distant voices and sirens. My cognitive faculties weren’t in the best state. Medics placed me on a wheelchair, and I was taken to the emergency theater, where they started administering first aid. I saw the medics helping me and talking to the riders who had brought me in. They seemed very curious, holding some papers, and I realized that Opondo was the rider who transported me, though I hadn’t told the medics that myself.
After a few minutes, I received a call on my phone from my sister Debora. I struggled to keep the conversation going and handed the phone to Opondo, who was standing next to the bed.
Opondo stepped aside to speak with her and a few minutes later handed the phone back, saying Debora had told him she was far away and would send help instead.
While medics continued treatment, another call came in from a number saved as Jane Air BnB South B. I couldn’t maintain the conversation and handed the phone to a nurse. The nurse conversed with Jane silently, without saying a word.
A few minutes after that, a man entered the theatre loudly asking, “Where is John Matara?” I replied, “Here I am,” while medics still attended to me. He introduced himself as Antony (Nyongesa), claiming he had been sent by my sister Debora to help me.
He spoke briefly with medics and returned to tell me I needed to be referred to Mbagathi Hospital due to profuse bleeding they couldn’t manage. I didn’t ask for a referral and didn’t even know where I was.
Antony said I had to pay 2,500 shillings and he pulled out two blood-stained 1,000 shilling notes, giving them to the nurses, later adding a 500 shilling note to complete the payment. He ordered an Uber and helped me to it.
The driver declined to take me, citing bloodstains. Antony then suggested we stop passing motobikes outside the facility; we flagged down one and was taken to Mbagathi Hospital.
At Mbagathi, I was able to support myself while medics brought a stretcher to move me to the emergency theatre.
They took my details and asked about my injuries. I said I’d been stabbed by a lady I considered my girlfriend or sex partner.
After treatment and stabilization, two police officers in uniform with AK-47s, accompanied by two women who seemed familiar, entered the theatre and identified me as “ndio huyu” (this is him). I recognized the women from the Airbnb where I had checked in.
The police asked my name; I told them I was John Matara Ongoa, but I didn’t have my ID. They stepped back, and the medics continued their work. The officers and the women stood around the door, chatting.
They didn’t interrogate me in Mbagathi. After several minutes of treatment, I was declared stable. The officers and women came back, asked for my phone, and I handed it over. They asked for the password and PIN, which I gave them. It was the same phone I carried all along. They opened the phone, scrolled through it, and even made fun of me when they found nude photos, saying “hizi ndio unafanya ga.” They then took out handcuffs, handcuffed me, and told me I was under arrest as a murder suspect.
I was shocked and in disbelief. I asked what was happening, and they told me I was a murder suspect who had killed the lady I was with earlier. I left the deceased alive and did not injure or harm her at any moment. I didn’t lock any door; my concern was not the door but to get away as far as possible from the knife and the diseased, who was stabbing me multiple times. I did not handle the knife or stab her at any point. I was defenseless, confused, and drunk; everything was happening so fast.
If the investigative team had dusted the knife for fingerprints and the padlock, I believe I would be exonerated today, proving I did not stab or injure the diseased. It was by sheer luck and chance that I got out of that fatal scene.
However, Matara didn’t know how the lady got a stab wound as he cannot tell exactly what happened afterward, he stated that he is still shocked that Starlet passed away.
The matter will be back in court on the 16th, December 2026
