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Murder case: DCI probes mystery drink in city lawyer’s car


Detectives are now waiting for the Government Chemist to determine the content of a mystery drink found in the car driven by Nairobi lawyer Assa Nyakundi on the day he shot dead his son, Joseph Bogonko, on March 17, 2019.

This comes after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on Monday recalled all the investigation files, interdicted several officers in a bid to salvage a case that they think had all the hallmarks of a “cover-up”.

While none of the witnesses who have recorded statements mentioned that mystery bottle, which was in the door pocket on the driver’s seat, they also want to determine the source of vomit found on the floor of the car and which is not mentioned in any of the previous police reports.

‘UNRAVEL MOTIVE’

“Nobody has mentioned these in the statements and we are waiting for the Government Chemist to give us a report. It will help us unravel the motive behind the killing,” a senior detective who is handling the case said.

The renewed investigations follow the interdiction of the lead investigator, Inspector John Wahome, who alongside other officers will be subjected to an inquiry into the handling of the lawyer’s case.

It was Mr Wahome who recommended that Mr Nyakundi be charged with the lesser charge of manslaughter, a move that has seen the Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr George Kinoti, and DPP Noordin Haji recall the files and order a public inquiry.

Sources say the inquiry will also centre on the reasons why the Government Chemist failed to reveal the results of the analysis requested by detectives, 43 days after the post-mortem report was carried out by chief government pathologist, Dr Johansen Oduor.

HANDLING EVIDENCE

The public inquiry will shed light into homicide investigations in the country and how police handle evidence before it is presented to court. Sources say detectives are using the case to understand the inner workings between the Judiciary, the prosecution and the police.

“I don’t know why there was a rush to conclude that it was manslaughter before all these reports had been filed. Anyone who is found culpable in this cover-up will face the law,” said Mr Kinoti on Monday.

The Nation has learnt that the new team of investigators has been asked to gather all the evidence and file a new case in court.

The city lawyer is accused of killing his 29-year-old son shortly after they left International Christian Centre along Mombasa Road on March 17.

Mr Nyakundi’s wife, in a statement filed as part of the court documents, describes him as “sometimes… temperamental” but detectives still do not know the motive behind the killing. Police have listed Nyakundi’s wife, Lydia Kunga, and son, Noah Onsomu, as prosecution witnesses.

‘DROVE WHILE DRUNK’

While both Ms Nyakundi and Mr Onsomu say there was “an issue” after Mr Nyakundi accused his son Bogonko of breaking the headlights of his Lexus, registration KAU 444T, it now emerges that the father complained to his eldest son that “Bogonko had waited for him to leave and then took the car and drove it while drunk”.

When Mr Onsomu called his brother, police reports say “he denied he was drunk at the time as alleged by our father”.

Interestingly, the investigators appear to have played down that altercation between son and father and gave more weight to a house-help’s evidence that the family lives in a “harmonious way and had no domestic misunderstandings”.

The police report filed in court also said “there were no signs of bad blood between the father and the son before the fateful day”.

NEGLIGENCE

In his report, the interdicted investigations officer, Mr Wahome, said the suspect was “negligent in handling his firearm” and recommended that he be charged with the offence of manslaughter.

All along, and in his cautionary statement, Mr Wahome says he was “inquiring into an offence of murder”.

Mr Nyakundi has maintained that the firearm accidentally discharged a bullet but a report by the firearm examiner says the weapon was in “good general and mechanical condition”.