Security concerns delay charges on six linked to killing

Nakuru County CCIO Anthony Sunguti displays items recovered from a suspect's house in Bahati. [Harun Wathario, Standard]

Technical challenges and security concerns have delayed the charging of six people linked to the killing of four women in Mawanga, Nakuru County.

Evans Michori, Dennis Alisiola, Ficky Wanjala, Julius Omondi, Isaac Kinyanjui and Josphat Simiyu were to appear in court on Monday.

However, after assessing the security situation at the Nakuru Law Courts, police opted to have the arraignment done virtually before Senior Resident Magistrate Benjamin Limo.

Sources said the authorities feared that members of an outlawed criminal gang were planning to crowd the court.

In 2019, police shot in the air to disperse suspected members of the gang who were attempting to overrun court orderlies when suspects believed to belong to the group were arraigned.

The virtual court session failed too due to technical challenges in the equipment that was supposed to link the court with two police stations in Bahati constituency where the suspects were being held.

However, the police were able to register a miscellaneous application seeking orders to allow them to detain the six for 14 more days, pending investigations.

 Filed application

Corporal Kennedy Mwachi attached at the DCI offices in Nakuru North Sub-County filed the miscellaneous Application dated July 4, 2022.

In the application seen yesterday by The Standard, Mr Mwachi states that the six will be probed for murder, robbery with violence and arson.

The alleged offences are said to have occurred on dates between December 2, 2021, and June 24, in Mawanga, Nakuru North Sub-County.

Mwachi wants Michori detained at Kiuguine Police Station in Nakuru North, and the other five suspects to be detained at various police stations in Nakuru, pending investigations.

"Detectives want the six to be escorted to the Rift Valley Provision General Hospital for extraction of DNA samples, profiling and mental assessment," reads the application.

The suspects have to record their statements, have their fingerprints taken and be interrogated.

Mwachi said the mobile phones recovered during the arrests must be taken to the Government Chemist for forensic analysis.

The five suspects were found with a motorcycle and police need information from the National Transport and Safety Authority to establish ownership of the motorcycle.

"A report on the samples collected at the scene of the crime is yet to be received from the Government Chemist,” reads the application.

Michori was arrested in Kisii County on June 30. His arrest led to the arrest of the other five suspects on July 1.