Chief, assistant, three suspects fail to be charged over murder of changaa brewer

A chief, her assistant and three suspects accused of killing a suspected chang’aa brewer at a village in Nyeri County failed to be formally charged with murder on Tuesday, January 16 due to lack of a psychiatric report.

When the five appeared before the High Court in Nanyuki on Tuesday, the prosecution applied to have the taking of plea deferred to next week to give time for a mental assessment on the suspects.

Gakawa Location Chief Lucy Wanja, Equator sub-location assistant chief Getrude Koki and three members of Nyumba Kumi Initiative, Mr Loyford Mwirigi, Mr George Wachira and Ms Mary Nyambura, are accused of murdering 46-year-old Wachira Kabui at his home in Ichuga village on October 31 2017.

The five are also facing assault charges where they are accused of occasioning grievous bodily harm to Mr Duncan Gitonga who was in company of the deceased. The assault case has been fixed for hearing on March 20 this year.

Two weeks ago, a Nanyuki Principal Magistrate’s court directed that they appear before the High Court to answer to the offense on January 5. However, the High Court was on recess and the appearance date was pushed to yesterday and the suspects were therefore detained at Nanyuki Prison.

When they appeared before Nanyuki Resident Judge Mary Kasango yesterday, the State through Mr Lucas Tanui applied to have the suspects taken to Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital on Thursday.

“The Government psychiatrist has been on leave and only resumed duty this week. We are applying to have the suspects escorted to the hospital on Thursday so that they can appear before court on Monday January 22 to answer to the murder charges,” Mr Tanui told the court.

The suspects’ lawyer John Abwuor successfully applied to have application for bond heard next Monday, on the day that the suspects will plead to the murder charges.

“The accused are administrators and it is important that the application to have them released on bond pending trial is heard urgently to enable them resume work,” Mr Abwuor told the court.

In her ruling, Justice Kasango directed that a probation report on the suspects be tabled in court on the day of plea taking to enable the court make a ruling if they would be released on bond.