Two to answer for murder of ex-MP’s son

By Wahome Thuku

A court has ruled that two men who are charged with the murder of former Assistant Minister Patrick Muiruri’s son have a case to answer.

Police inspector Dickson Munene and his friend Alex Chepkonga were put on their defence Wednesday at the end of submissions by the prosecution.

They are charged with the murder of Muiruri’s son James Kariuki at Westlands area in Nairobi in February 2009.

Kariuki was shot at dawn following a quarrel between two groups of revellers at an entertainment spot in Westlands. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

High Court judge Mohamed Warsame ruled that after calling 23 witnesses the prosecution had produced enough evidence to put the two on their defence.

The judge rejected submissions by the defence that the evidence adduced by all the witnesses was incredible. On the face of it the court had found that the accused had a case to answer, he said.

Earlier defence lawyer Kioko Kilukumi had submitted that no evidence had been adduced to prove that his client Munene was the one who fired the fatal bullet or that he pulled the trigger of his gun as police claim.

Kilukumi argued that Munene was not even positively identified at any identification parade and that evidence against him was not reliable.

Chepkonga’s lawyer Philip Murgor submitted that there was nothing in court to link his client to the alleged offence. There was no evidence that the accused formed a common intention with anyone to kill the deceased, he argued.

Murgor said his client was charged as an afterthought by police as he was not a suspect when Munene was first arraigned in court. He said Chepkonga was charged following pressure exerted on the investigators by Muiruri, a former Gatundu North MP.

The prosecution, however, denied the allegations saying Muiruri did not interfere in anyway with the evidence or the case.

Following the ruling lawyer Kilukumi said he would call one defence witness while Murgor said his client would call three witnesses.

The defence case will be heard on June 6 and 7.