Tob Cohen’s family based in Netherlands speaks out after case is withdrawn by High Court
The family of Mr Tob Cohen, a Netherlands national who was murdered in Kenya in 2019, has spoken out for the first time after a case that implicated his wife Ms Sarah Wairimu was withdrawn from court.
Ms Gabriele Van Straten, now wants the office of the Head of State President Dr William Ruto to ensure that her brother’s killers are not set free.
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Ms Straten who has been a frequent visitor to Kenya as she followed up on the case closely with the hope that she would eventually get justice was speaking to a local TV news station that is based in the Netherlands.
“I was really shocked that the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) had issued an order to withdraw the case against Ms Wairimu and his co-accused Mr Peter Karanja,” she said.
She said that all she was interested in is that the family gets justice and she was not interested in any of the properties that his brother owned in the country.
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On November 30, 2022, DPP Noordin Haji said that he wanted to withdraw the case against the two co-accused.
DPP Haji said that the case would better be solved through an inquest and in his ruling High Court Judge, Justice Daniel Ogembo, said that the family’s objections lacked merit and he was not convinced by their arguments that Mr Haji was acting in bad faith.
“This court is not convinced by victims that DPP exercised his powers in bad faith and the objections raised do not have merit and are dismissed. I allow the “Nolle prosequi” (not to wish to prosecute). The accused persons are accordingly discharged,” said the judge.
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The body of the businessman was discovered in an underground water tank at his home compound in Kitisuru, Spring Valley, Nairobi in September 2019.
He had been reported missing on July 19, 2019, and it took sleuths attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) two months to locate his lifeless body.
This led to the arrest of Ms Wairimu but she insists she was fixed in the murder as she alleged those police investigators were used to cover up and protect the alleged killers.
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