By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

Joseph Mwaura Waithira

WARSAW — A Warsaw man who attacked his ex-wife with an ax in 2018, will plead guilty to an aggravated battery charge.

Joseph Mwaura Waithira, 41, 3932 E. Old Road 30, Warsaw, was initially charged with attempted murder, a level 1 felony; domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 5 felony; and strangulation, a level 6 felony.

Waithira will plead guilty to aggravated battery, a level 3 felony. The remaining counts Waithira was facing will be dismissed. He will be sentenced at 10 a.m. Monday, March 7, in Kosciusko Circuit Court.

Court documents state that Waithira and the State of Indiana agree that the sentence imposed will be 13 years executed at the Indiana Department of Correction.

In Indiana, Level 3 felonies are punishable by three to 16 years in prison.

Background on Case

On Aug. 27, 2018, county dispatch received a report from one of Waithira’s neighbors; the neighbor said children told them Waithira was killing their mother.

According to court documents, officers arrived at a residence and saw Waithira covered with blood while sitting on top of a woman, who was his wife at the time. Officers noticed several “chops” to the woman’s head, with a hatchet or hand ax laying nearby. The officers secured the scene by placing Waithira in handcuffs and rendering medical aid to the woman, who was experiencing severe blood loss.

After clearing the scene, the woman was flown by medical helicopter to a Fort Wayne hospital. According to the couple’s children, prior to the incident, their mother had indicated a desire to relax in a bedroom. Waithira joined her shortly after.

The children told officers they heard noise coming from the bedroom, which they thought was laughing at first. They soon realized it was their mother crying and entered the bedroom. The children said they saw Waithira standing over their mother while holding a small ax. At this time, the children went to a neighbor for help.

Officers searched the home and found an ax in a bedroom. The ax was covered in blood and hair. Officers noticed that more blood and hair was found in several different places in the bedroom.

On Aug. 28, 2018, officers went to the Fort Wayne hospital to document the woman’s injuries. Hospital personnel said the woman had seven blows causing injuries to her head, two of which resulted in skull fractures. One of the blows caused a large laceration the size of a hatchet blade to the front of her head.

Staff also said the woman’s right ear was severed and surgically reattached. She also had two lacerations to her upper body and severe bruising to her neck that was consistent with being strangled. Hospital personnel said the woman told them Waithira tried to kill her.