This week at the Milimani Law Courts, a series of high-profile cases captivated the public with courtroom events developing on various fronts.
Among the key cases was the hearing of a murder charge against John Matara, who has been accused of killing Starlet Wahu, and the public inquest into the fatal shooting of Rex Masai.
Let’s delve deeper into how these significant cases played out within the corridors of justice.
JOHN MATARA
Four witnesses were lined up on Tuesday during the hearing of the case.
One of the witnesses presented by the office of the director of public prosecutions told the court that Matara was seen leaving an apartment in South B, where Wahu's body was discovered lying in a pool of blood.
Joseph Ndung'u, a security guard at an apartment directly across from the scene, testified before Trial Judge Alexander Muteti that he saw Matara exit the building wearing bloodstained khaki trousers.
He also had a white towel with blood stains draped around his neck and a black cape. "I immediately went to Papino to look for the security guard to inform him about what I had seen," said Ndegwa.
The name of the guard at the apartment was Gitau. Gitau said, according to Ndegwa, they didn't see anyone leaving the apartment, but they proceeded to the security room to review the CCTV footage to identify which floor Matara was coming from. "
After reviewing the footage, we saw that the man was leaving the fourth floor of the apartment. We also saw blood stains at door number y32," said the witness.
The door, according to the witness, had been locked Gitau made a call to the owner of the house, which had been listed as a short-term rental.
When the door to the house was opened, the court heard that a woman was found lying in a pool of blood. Ndegwa said he was able to visibly identify Matara as the person who came from the apartment owing to the security lights.
The lighting, he said, was at the entrance of the gate.
Another witness who does short-term rental apartment business in South B also testified that Wahu's body was found necked in a pool of blood at the apartments. Charity Muthoni explained that she received a call from her colleague in the business by the name Jane.
Jane told her she needed a house for a client. Matara was the client. He specifically requested a one-bedroom house with a balcony. But Charity didn't have any at the moment.
She proceeded to call another lady by the name of Florence, who is also in the same business. Florence had exactly what Matara needed.
"That's how I connected Florence to Jane. The client was to pay Sh3,000 for the night," said Charity.
Matara arrived at the house around 5:50pm. He paid cash. Charity and Florence then excused themselves and left Matara with the keys and padlock to the house.
"But at about 10:30 pm, I got a missed call from Florence. I called back ten minutes later," said the witness.
The conversation between the two was that the security guard had informed Florence that a man was spotted leaving the house with a towel filled with blood.
Matara was last year charged with the murder of Starker Wahu. The offence is said to have occurred on the night of 3rd January 2024 in South B. Controversial preacher Kanyari was present in court during the hearing. Wahu's incident happened at a time when there was a spike in femicide cases.
WETANG'ULA ON TRAFFIC CAMERAS PROCUREMENT CASE
This week also saw the speaker of the National Assembly, Moses Wetangula, seeking to be removed from a case challenging the procurement of 25 traffic cameras valued at Sh6.1 billion.
Advocate Ruth Nyaberi says LSK has wrongfully joined the Speaker of the National Assembly in the proceedings.
"Petitioners have not established any legal or factual claim against the speaker to warrant his involvement in the matter," read part of her court documents.
The speaker, according to the advocate, says he has no involvement in the matter, and his continued participation in the case is neither necessary nor legally justified. He seeks to be struck out as a party in the proceedings.
"LSK has not stated any specific action, omission, obligation, or wrongdoing attributable to the speaker, she says.
Judge Mwita has since directed parties to appear in court on March 18 for further directions.
GDC CASE
At the anti-corruption division, a senior official from the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) testified in court on Monday, stating that the process leading to the award of a Sh 42 million tender for rig move services was fully compliant with the law.
Pamela Ouma, who is currently Chief Officer supply chain at GDC explained to the anti-corruption court that all legal requirements were met during the tendering process.
She added that she did not find any reason for the report that ultimately led to the tender's award being rejected.
She was among those who sat in the tender committee. Ouma confirmed that the tender complied with procurement laws and that it had been properly budgeted for an existing procurement plan in place.
"It was also advertised in the local dailies as required by the law. Tender opening was also conducted and minutes recorded. The award was made in accordance with the law," she said.
She further clarified that the accused persons, being Nicholas Weke, Peter Omenda and Caleb Mbayi did not participate in the tender evaluation process.
The witness acknowledged that the three accused are charged with violating Regulation 10(2)(e) of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act of 2006 by approving the Sh42 million tender award to Bonafide Clearing and Forwarding Company.
When asked whether she had seen any document published by the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA) that listed rig move services as an item with a market price, Ouma responded, "At that time, no."
She explained that the PPOA typically published market prices for standard goods, services, and works, but she could not speak to the market prices relevant to the specific tender as she was not part of the evaluation committee.
"I wouldn’t know what the prevailing market prices were for this particular tender. The best person to answer that would be someone from the evaluation committee," she stated.
Ouma was testifying against Weke, Omenda, and Mbayi, who are accused of unlawfully awarding the Sh42.7 million tender to Bonafide Clearing and Forwarding at an inflated cost.
The tender was for rig services related to GDC's Menengai project, and the charges stem from allegations that the rig movement costs were artificially inflated.
MLOLONGO ABDUCTION CASE AGAINST STATE
And in the Mlolongo abductions case, the Law Society of Kenya was granted time to peruse through the file after a new Advocate was instructed to take over the matter. J
ives Karen said she was given instructions a day ahead of this week's court date. She explained to the court that she required time to familiarize herself with the case.
Other parties including the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, DCI Amin Mohamed were not opposed to taking new dates to allow LSK to organize itself.
The matter was pushed to July 9. The case revolves around the alleged abduction of three men in Mlolongo December last year. The last time the matter was in court, the Director of Public Prosecutions was removed from the case after successfully arguing that his office is not involved in the investigations.
Justice Chacha Mwita subsequently gave the petitioners among them the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) 14 days to file and serve their amended petition.
The state and other respondents in the case were also given 14 days to file and serve their responses if need be ahead of this week's mention date. But the matter will now proceed in July owing to the new developments.
In January this year, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and DCI Mohamed Amin appeared in court and denied having the 'missing individuals' in their custody.
They told the court that investigations were ongoing. What followed after the court sessions was two of them being found dead.
The body of Martin Mwau was found at the Nairobi Funeral Home (formerly City Mortuary) in the same place where the body of Mutumwa Musyoki was discovered.
It emerged that the bodies were allegedly delivered to the mortuary on December 17, a day after their abduction from the Mlolongo area.
