How a property dispute could have escalated into double tragedy

Clinical psychologist Dr Victoria Mutiso who was shot dead in Nairobi on July 29, 2026. [Courtesy] 

The brutal assassination of prominent Nairobi lawyer Mathew Kyalo Mbobu on September 9, 2025, and the targeted killing of clinical psychologist Dr Victoria Mutiso on July 29, 2026, are two murders that may be linked by a common thread: a bitter divorce, a defamation case, and a property dispute that has left investigators piecing together a narrative of revenge and bloodshed.

Investigators are trying to find the nexus of the two murders, with those in the know claiming that at the heart of this saga is Rose Mbithe Ndetei, now known as Rose Mbithe Mulwa, the former wife of Prof David Musyimi Ndetei. The couple divorced in 2001, and what followed was an acrimonious legal battle over matrimonial property that may have set off a chain of events culminating in two deaths.

During the divorce proceedings, Prof Ndetei was represented by advocate Mathew Kyalo Mbobu, a lawyer of over 17 years standing, who also lectured at the University of Nairobi's Faculty of Law. Rose, represented by lawyer Chris Mutuku, grew frustrated with the delays in her matrimonial property case.

On February 24, 2003, she wrote a blistering letter to the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), copied to the Chief Justice, the Minister for Justice, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, and the Federation of Women Lawyers. She accused Mbobu of unprofessional and unbecoming behaviour and claimed delays were purely out of malice. The LSK investigated and dismissed the complaint, advising Rose to allow the matter to run to its natural conclusion.

But she would not relent. On January 15, 2004, Rose confronted Mbobu outside a courtroom, calling him, as witnesses testified, a liar, useless and most corrupt advocate in the city while holding and pushing him. The commotion was so serious it caught the attention of Justice Kamau, who had just heard her application. He summoned the parties and cautioned her.

Mbobu sued for defamation in H.C.C.C No. 155 of 2004. On November 11, 2005, Lady Justice Mugo entered judgment for Mbobu, awarding him Sh1,500,000 in general and aggravated damages, plus costs. The judge noted that there being no advocate-client relationship between the Plaintiff and the Defendant in the matrimonial suit it is quite absurd for the Defendant to have accused the Plaintiff for the delays in her suit.

Rose did not appeal the judgment. Instead, she waited over a year before filing an application to set it aside, claiming she had been condemned unheard. On April 21, 2008, Justice Khamoni dismissed her application with a rebuke.

 "The purpose of Order IX B rule 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules is not to come to the aid of such an indolent litigant but to assist where judgment is entered by an excusable mistake or due to a reasonably explainable inadvertence by a party. If a party who has instructed an advocate to act for it in a case fails to give full or sufficient instructions and co-operation to that advocate and as a result that party loses the case to the apposite side, that party thereby soils its hands and has no legitimacy to ask the court to set aside the judgment."

Rose appealed that ruling to the Court of Appeal, but the court refused to stay execution of the decree, noting that: "Our jurisdiction is donated when hearing an application under rule 5(2)(b) by the existence on the record of a notice of appeal filed against a decree or an order we are sought to stay. In this application, we are being asked to stay a decree granted by Mugo J. on November 11, 2005, against which no notice of appeal was lodged."

Unable to pay the decretal amount, Rose lost the house that had been awarded to her as matrimonial property. It was sold, and the new occupant was Dr Victoria Mutiso Ndetei, Prof Ndetei's second wife. Rose made public threats against Mbobu.

On September 9, 2025, Mbobu was shot dead on Magadi Road near his Karen home. A postmortem revealed he was shot eight times, with bullets causing severe spinal and vascular injuries leading to excessive bleeding. Investigators described it as a highly calculated execution by gunmen on a motorcycle.

A day later, on September 10, 2025, Rose obtained a court order authorising her to evict the "squatters" her ex-husband and Dr Mutiso from the property.

On the morning of July 29, 2026, Dr Mutiso, a renowned clinical psychologist and head of research at the Africa Mental Health Research and Training Foundation, was ambushed near Kenyatta National Hospital. A four-wheel-drive vehicle blocked her taxi before two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at close range. She was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead.

Police revealed Dr Mutiso had previously reported threats to her life at Kilimani Police Station after armed men on a motorcycle pointed a gun at her in traffic. Detectives are examining whether a family property dispute is a possible motive.

Prof Ndetei, who has lost his lawyer and his wife within a year, is reportedly in hiding.