Police granted 21 days to finalize investigations on murder of Richard Otieno
Murder suspects in the gruesome murder of Richard Otieno will remain in police custody for twenty-one days to allow the investigating authority to finalize their investigations.
The five Geoffrey Mavado, John Ndegwa, Jorim Ngonga, Clinton Simantu, and Peter Mwaniki were arrested and arraigned in Court yesterday but not charged until the investigations are over.
Nakuru Principal Magistrate Kipkurui Kibellion allowed the five to be detained at Kaptembwo Police Station until the investigation is completed.
“The police have a lot of ground how to cover in terms of investigation and the court hereby grants twenty-one days to conclude the probe,” the magistrate directed.
Kipkurui noted that
“The case under investigation has elicited public outcry and anger therefore their safety is paramount. They’ll be detained at Kaptembwo or any other station,” he added.
The investigations team led by Peter Wachira from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation’s Homicide department had applied to detain the five for thirty days.
The Inspector said the police will be conducting a DNA test and probing the two motorcycles they claim were used to ferry the suspects to and from the crime scene as they pursue the mastermind behind the murder.
The detectives told the court that they had vital information that may lead to the arrest of more suspects as they believed the five hitmen were paid to eliminate the vocal government critic.
Mavado Ndegwa and Ndonga are believed to have been involved directly in the murder while Simantu alia Muiruri and Mwaniki alias Pinchez are the bodaboda riders who ferried the hitmen.
In November last year, Mavado and Ndegwa were arrested and charged for assaulting the deceased and had been sentenced to one year probation.
Otieno, a vocal critic of the government was killed a few meters from his home mid-last month.
The murder sparked protests with the homicide detectives and Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) taking over the investigations.
The body of Otieno was transferred to Kericho following protests by Molo residents who stormed the Elburgon Sub-County Hospital where the body had been preserved and stashed into a plastic bag before they made a procession to Elburgon police station where they dumped it.
Before his untimely death, Otieno famously referred to as Molo president had reported being trailed by unknown people.
An autopsy conducted on his body led by the Chief government pathologist Johansen Odour in the presence of his family and the Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) at the Kericho
Referral Hospital Morgue revealed that the body had multiple slash wounds on the back and at the front area of the skull; which fractured the skull leading to excessive bleeding in the brain.
