Suspects in Molo President murder case granted bond

The five accused persons in the murder of Richard Otieno have been granted a million-shilling bond each and a surety of a similar amount.

In the ruling, the judge further prohibited the suspects from contacting Otieno’s family.

“The suspects will remain in custody until compliance of the bond terms,” she says.

Otieno, a well-known Molo blogger was found murdered on January 18.

The case has been ongoing since March 6, when police had a total of nine people in custody. However, they were unable to find sufficient evidence against four of them.

Clinton Simantu, Jorim Ngonga, Peter Mwaniki, and John Ndegwa will now serve as state witnesses, according to the prosecution.

The remaining five, Peter Okech, Joseph Kihara, Evan Aseka, Geoffrey Ndung’u, and Stephen Masheti, were charged with the murder of ‘Molo President.’

The matter was mentioned on April 8, and the suspects made allegations of bribery.

At the time, the suspects petitioned the court to remove Ms. Rosalinda Wamaitha, an advocate representing Otieno’s family, on grounds of conflict of interest.

They claimed that Ms. Wamaitha had promised the five a collective sh. 100,000 if they pleaded guilty.

They also claimed that she posed as their representative and obtained information from them under false pretences.

The lawyer representing the five argued that the information the advocate gathered from the accused would be used against them in court.

Geoffrey Ndung’u, one of the accused, told the court that Ms. Wamaitha met with his co-accused, Peter Okech, on February 25 and promised him legal aid and lunch if he pleaded guilty.

Days later, Peter was arrested, and it is alleged that Ms. Wamaitha tipped off the police to Okech’s whereabouts.

Additionally, Ndung’u claimed that she had promised to take up their case; however, when they got to court, they found Ms. Wamaitha representing the family.

The suspects alleged that she persuaded them to plead guilty, claiming that a powerful politician would help secure their release.

Ms. Wamaitha denied the allegations of bribery and further told the court that there had never been an advocate-client relationship with the suspects.

“There have never been any private discussions with the suspects. These allegations are malicious. I ask the court to dismiss this application,” she told the court.

The court in a later ruling, dismissed the application, and Ms. Wamaitha was allowed to continue representing the family in the murder trial.

The matter will be mentioned on November 25.