Four to defend themselves in murder of ex-Kabete MP George Muchai
The accused face charges over the fatal shooting of Muchai, police constables Samuel Kimathi and Samuel Lekakeny, and driver Stephen Ituu Wambugu on February 7, 2015.
Four suspects charged with the murder of former Kabete MP George Muchai have been ordered to defend themselves after the court ruled that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against them.
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Justice Kanyi Kimondo on Thursday ruled that the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence linking the four to the killings, and ordered them to answer to the charges.
The accused, Eric Mungera Isabwa, alias Chairman, Raphael Kimani Gachii, alias Kim Butcher, Mustafa Kimani, alias Musto, and Stephen Astiva Lipopo, alias Chokore, face charges over the fatal shooting of Muchai, police constables Samuel Kimathi and Samuel Lekakeny, and driver Stephen Ituu Wambugu on February 7, 2015.
The four victims were ambushed at about 3:40 am at the Kenyatta Avenue-Uhuru Highway roundabout after leaving a Westlands hotel. The MP, who was on his way to his Kamulu home, had briefly stopped to buy newspapers when armed men blocked his vehicle and opened fire at close range.
Justice Kimondo, however, acquitted three co-accused - Jane Wanjiru Kamau alias Shiro, Margaret Njeri Wachiuri, and Simon Wambugu Gichamba - saying the evidence against them was too tenuous. He noted that the only link to Njeri was her presence at Mungera's house in Kinoo during the investigation, which was insufficient to prove complicity.
"There is no reliable evidence showing the 5th, 6th and 7th accused persons participated in or planned the killings. Crucially, the prosecution has not demonstrated malice aforethought on their part," the judge observed.
The court heard that the prosecution relied on testimony from 36 witnesses, among them three motorists who were carjacked on the same night and whose vehicles were allegedly used in the attack.
One of them, Ronald Nyangaresi, a newspaper vendor, told the court he had just handed Muchai newspapers when gunmen struck. He fled the scene after seeing a hooded man brandishing a G3 rifle.
Muchai's widow, Susan Nyawira, also testified, recalling that she was in another car ahead of her husband when she heard the gunfire. Returning to the scene, she found the windows of his vehicle shattered and the occupants dead.
Police later said the arrest of Astiva led them to a house in Kinoo, where they recovered a G3 rifle believed to have been stolen from a police officer, alongside several mobile phones suspected to have been stolen property.
The defence hearing has been scheduled for October 22.
Muchai was serving his first term as Kabete MP under the Jubilee Party and was also the deputy secretary-general of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) at the time of his death.
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