Man arraigned in court in connection with murder of prison warder

Petterson Mwaura Njiru being led to cells after Murang'a Reident Magistrate Court allowed police to detain him for 14 days. He was remanded to enable police investigate murder of prison warder Pauline Wangari. [Photo:Boniface Gikandi]

Police have been allowed by a Murang'a court to hold for 14 days a suspect arrested in connection with the murder of a prison warder.

The court ordered that Peterson Mwaura Njiru be detained at Murang’a Police station to enable police complete investigations into matter connected to murder of prison warden Pauline Wangari.

Murang’a DCI officer Abdalla Ali made an application before Resident Magistrate Sheila Nyaga to hold the suspect for two weeks to enable completion of the investigations.

Ali told the court that Njiru, being Wangari’s boyfriend, was a person of interest in the murder investigations.

 The court was told that Wangari's body was found in her rental room in Kiharu estate on Wednesday, after she failed to report on duty for two days.

“The suspect is a person of interest having been a boyfriend to Pauline Wangari, or he could have been involved in the murder," he told the court.

 The court allowed the police to detain him for two weeks and fixed the mention date on May 30.

“During the duration the prison should take the suspect for psychiatric examination to determine if he was fit to stand trial,” ruled the magistrate.

A source involved in the investigations said another person of interest was being sought in parts of Rift Valley and Western regions.

Earlier, Murang’a County Police Commander Josphat Kinyua said the detectives were pursuing other suspects to assist in the investigations.

“The police obtained security cameras from the rental building where the deceased was staying  and would provide vital information,” said Kinyua.