Mr Geoffrey Wanjala Wechule, 38, for a second time, told a packed courtroom that he killed Ms Jane Kadogo Mutiso on October 20, but added that the woman had “groped his private parts”.
Lady justice Florence Muchemi said the confession amounted to a denial and entered a plea of not guilty.
Mr Wechule was addressing the court after a murder charge was read out to him. He has been before two assessors who declared him mentally fit for trial.
He has been in custody pending the mental assessment the prosecution had requested.
Doctors who interviewed him at the Mathari Hospital handed over their findings to the court and his lawyer.
Mr Wechule two weeks ago pleaded guilty to the murder charge even after being informed of the penalty.
During the previous proceedings his lawyer had also asked and was allowed time to further consult his client over his confession.
The lawyer also wanted further mental test be conducted on the suspect.
Wednesday, the lawyer said that after consulting the suspect and the prosecution Mr Wechule was ready to “take the plea afresh”.
The proceedings were conducted in Kiswahili, the language the suspect said he understood best.
Speaking in clear diction the suspect told the judge: “Yes, I killed her but with a reason… She had attacked my private parts.”
The judge then said that from a judicial point of view he was denying the murder charge. “A plea of Not Guilty has been entered and the case will now proceed for hearing on February 27, 2014,” the judge said.
She also directed that the suspect be held in custody at the Industrial Area Prison.
Mr Wechule did not request to be released on bail but his lawyer wanted copies of witness statements and the documentary evidence the prosecution will be using during the hearing in advance to prepare for the trial.
The suspect surrendered to the authorities on October 20 at the Muthangari police station where he reported to have killed and dismembered his lover.
Police on visiting the scene at the house he rented in Kawangware’s Gatina area found a decapitated head stashed in a basket.
They also collected a female body with a slit abdomen which was found on a blood-soaked sheet on the floor with missing internal organs.
