Nairobi News

The owner of the seven-storey building which collapsed while under construction in Kasarani, Nairobi killing three people has been released on bond pending investigations.

Mr Joel Njau Kihara was released on a bond of Sh1 million and an alternative cash bail of Sh500,000 by Principal Magistrate Hellen Onkwani of the Makadara Law Courts.

The contractor told the court through a lawyer that he had not been hiding and that he had fallen sick as a result of the incident.

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Detective Christopher Njue of Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Kasarani offices told the court that he was investigating a case of murder reported at Kasarani Police Station vide OB 85/15/11/2022.

Mr Njue sought court’s orders to detain Mr Kihara for 14 days in custody pending the completion of investigations.

“I need to ascertain the cause of death by having a postmortem conducted, record comprehensive statements, take the suspect for mental assessment, identify deceased persons and have the suspect processed before forwarding the file to the DPP,” he stated in an affidavit filed before the court.

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But Mr Kihara, through his lawyer, opposed the application saying no solid reasons were presented to warrant the same as he is ready to help in the ongoing investigations where necessary.

Onkawni granted Mr Njue 14 days to complete probing the murder case and further directed that the Mr Kihara be reporting to the officers investigating the matter whenever needed and assist in giving the information needed.

It has emerged that the building had no statutory approvals from the county government and the National Construction Authority (NCA).

The construction site has since been closed because it poses a risk to the general public. The case will be mentioned on December 8.

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