Robert Chesang murder: Was it about love triangle or property?

Lawyer Robert Chesang who was killed in his house in Lukenya, Machakos on Sunday.

Police are following several leads into the cold-blood murder of city lawyer Robert Chesang.

The advocate of the High Court was shot dead at his Lukenya home in broad daylight in a manner that could suggest the killers were hired hitmen.

Chesang was shot when he peeped through the window to ascertain the identity of people who were knocking on his door. On seeing him, the killers opened fire and shot him in the head and chest.

He was alone in the house when the killers struck after forcing gunpoint two guards at gunpoint to show them the advocate’s house. The gunmen escaped without stealing anything. Police at the scene recovered spent cartridges from an AK 47 rifle.

In their investigation, police are mulling over several theories to establish the motive of the murder. These include the cases he was handling in court, alleged love triangle and dispute over property.

Homicide detectives are trying to determine whether some of the cases the 45-year-old was handling might have contributed to his death.

The love triangle angle too is a subject of interest after it emerged that his marriage to Nyeri magistrate Maisy Omungala Chesang had hit the rocks.

“They frequently quarrelled and sometimes their differences spilled out into public,” said one of Chesang’s clients who was involved in a land dispute pitting a senior government official against the family of a retired Prisons boss.

Chesang was last year arrested and detained at Athi River Police Station for four days after the wife accused him of assault and he was subsequently charged in a Mavoko court.

Maisy, in the application, asked the court to protect her from her husband whom she described as violent. But in his response, Chesang claimed Maisy colluded with senior cops in Athi River to harass him.

“His death can either be linked to a love triangle or dispute over property,” a senior officer said. Several people, including the wife, were grilled in connection with the murder.

It is understood that the couple was in the process of divorcing due to differences bordering on cruelty and infidelity.

The couple had invested jointly in the family’s Moke Gardens home in Lukenya, cars and land.

According to Machakos County Police Commander Mohamed Farah the killers were probably hired assassins. He revealed that police “officers have spent three days at the scene collecting evidence. It is too early to deduce a motive for the killing, which was carried out by skilled gunmen.”