DCI now say Dennis Gachoki did not shoot Samuel Mugota

Dennis Karani Gachoki (pictured) will be in custody for 14 days to allow police complete investigations into Samuel Mugota’s murder. [Standard]

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) now says Dennis Karani Gachoki, the main suspect in the murder of Samuel Mugota, is not the person caught on CCTV cameras killing Mugota at Mirema Drive, Nairobi.

Kapario Lekakeny, a DCI detective investigating the murder, told Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate Caroline Njagi on Tuesday, May 24 that Gachoki was the driver of the getaway car that Mugota’s killer fled in.

Lekakeny said Gachoki was part of a gang that plotted Mugota’s murder, which occurred on May 16.

“The killing was executed by more than one person. We believe that Gachoki was the driver of the getaway vehicle that Mugota’s killer fled in,” Lekakeny said in his affidavit.

Police sought 14 days to detain Gachoki to allow for completion of investigations into Mugota’s murder.

Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate Caroline Njagi granted police their request, directing that Gachoki be produced in court on June 8.

It is then that the prosecution will decide which crime(s) to charge him with.

On Friday, May 20, the DCI released pictures of Gachoki, identifying him as the prime suspect in the murder of Mugota.

Describing Gachoki, the DCI said on their Facebook page: “The armed and dangerous man is suspected to be in possession of a firearm that was snatched from a stupefied police officer in Mombasa in November 2020.”

The DCI further said that it took several months for Mugota’s killers to plot his murder.

The investigative agency said Gachoki had fallen out with Mugota “over the sharing of proceeds that they got after stupefying victims”.

In court on Tuesday, May 24, the DCI said: “Gachoki and his gang are believed to have premeditated the execution of Mugota, who was their accomplice in the stupefying and fraudulent scheme. In efforts to ascertain their involvement in Mugota’s murder, investigators are still analysing the numerous [phone] numbers that Gachoki and his group used.”

Mugota was shot six times by a lone gunman on Mirema Drive in Kasarani Sub-County at 1:57pm on May 16.

After killing Mugota, the assailant ran towards a waiting silver saloon car. The vehicle, whose registration plate wasn’t visible in the CCTV recordings, sped off thereafter.

Police say they suspect that the man in their possession, Gachoki, has three firearms hidden in his houses in Nakuru, Mombasa and Kiambu counties.

Authorities further said in court that Gachoki refused to surrender his mobile phone and national identity card for forensic examination.

Police said they are yet to record statements from Mugota’s family because “they are still mourning”.

Gachoki said he had no objections to being held in custody for 14 days to allow for completion of probe.

On Monday, the suspect said he had no close relationship with Mugota, stating that he met the deceased at a mutual friend’s wedding in Meru County in 2018.

The two would later briefly bump into each other at a car wash on Kenyatta Road, Kiambu County in November 2021, the suspect said.