Safaricom 'to provide phone records between murdered man and his wife'

A Kitui court has ordered Safaricom to furnish homicide detectives who are investigating the murder of a Kitui youth leader with telecommunication records between the deceased and his wife.

The order was issued by Kitui principal magistrate Johnstone Munguti on Thursday at the request of police officers probing the murder.

Police have detained the wife as a suspect in the murder.

The partially burned body of Benjamin Muema Kinyali, popularly known to his friends as BMK, was found dumped at Kavou Stream in Lower Yatta on Wednesday evening.

The court also gave the detectives permission to further detain for seven days the deceased’s wife at Katulani police station.

Police led by Katulani OCPD Eric Ng’etich told the court they wanted to establish if the widow might have had a motive to kill BMK.

The couple is said to have had a problematic relationship in the last six months. 

The officers informed the court that they wanted to hold the widow for further interrogation to narrow down on other suspects who might have participated in the killing.

She will be presented back to court on April 25. 

Muema was an official of the National Youth Council in Kitui Rural. He was also a businessman with interests in real estate and road construction.

The family’s spokesman Jorum Mwalimu called for speedy investigations, urging the public not to speculate on the matter but leave it to the authorities.

“We wish for justice to be served to the family of our son,” Mwalimu said.