Suspected lethal jab medic released on bail
A case in which a city medic is suspected of injecting a patient with a lethal drug has hit the rocks after the prosecution said it is experiencing hurdles.
The prosecution had on Friday told Justice Luka Kimaru that there may be an emergent “conflict of interest” in the case against Mr Michael Kibe after a pathologist failed to state the “cause of death” in a postmortem report.
The non-disclosure of the cause of death, according to prosecution, is making progress in the murder case difficult.
Mr Kibe is suspected of administering a lethal jab that killed a patient at a medical facility in Nairobi’s South C estate.
The prosecutor said she was facing the challenge of “colleagues dealing with one of their own”, and requested the court to allow police to continue holding the suspect for a further seven days.
The request was overruled.
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Last week, the court allowed the police “more time” to complete investigations before the suspect is formally charged with murder.
But on Tuesday, the Judge ruled that the suspect can no longer be kept in custody indefinitely.
An investigating officer said samples taken to the government chemist for analysis “were not ready,” further complicating the nature of investigations.
The Judge ruled that Mr Kibe be released on an “anticipatory bail” of Sh 500,000 and directed that he deposits a surety of a similar amount.
Justice Kimaru also ordered the suspect to report to the police fortnightly as the conclusive postmortem and government analyst reports are awaited, as well as the clearance from the DPP on whether he is to be charged with murder.
The court heard that the investigations have been taken over by the Directorate of criminal Investigations headquarters homicide section. It was initially being handled by the Makadara
CID.
Mr Kibe’s relatives, who thronged the courtroom for the proceedings, threatened journalists for taking his pictures.