Three suspects linked to the murder of clinical psychologist Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso have been remanded for 30 days to allow detectives to complete their investigation into her killing.
The trio appeared before Principal Magistrate Paul Mutai at the Milimani Law Courts on Monday, where the court granted police more time to hold them. They will be detained separately: Kevin Ngugi at Gigiri Police Station, Daniel Mwangi at Pangani Police Station, and Elijah Kibelion at Ruaraka Police Station. Should investigations wrap up sooner, the suspects will be brought back to court for further directions. The case has been set for mention on September 10.
Police told the court the extra time was needed to finish piecing together the case and to track down other people believed to be connected to the killing.
Dr Mutiso was shot on July 29 while riding in an Uber to work in Nairobi’s Upper Hill area. Investigators say the attack was planned and involved several people, with detectives now working to establish who financed it, who carried out surveillance, and who handled the logistics and execution.
So far, a police officer, a boda boda rider and a third person described as a key link in the plot have all been arrested. Kibelion, attached to Karinde Police Station, is the officer accused of pulling the trigger. Two of his colleagues remain the subject of a manhunt, with detectives believing the pair could be hiding in Nakuru.
Police say the two had sought permission from work to travel upcountry on medical grounds two days after the murder, claiming their children were unwell, before switching off their phones and disappearing. Investigators have urged them to turn themselves in.
Separately, four more people, including a mother, her two children and a land broker, have also been taken into custody as the probe widens.
Detectives have recovered a motorcycle, two four-wheel-drive vehicles and a police firearm suspected to have been used in the attack. They are now seeking firearm registers from Dagoretti, Nderi, Karinde and Thogoto police stations to trace how the weapon changed hands, and say it appears to have been officially issued to a police officer.
New details have also emerged on the alleged payment for the killing. Investigators believe the suspects were promised a total of Sh1.5 million, with Sh100,000 paid upfront. The rest, they say, was to be split three ways once the job was done, funded partly through the planned sale of a Range Rover that has since been seized.
That vehicle was among four cars allegedly stolen from Dr Mutiso’s Mlolongo home in February, in a raid police say relied on forged documents. The case has since been tied to a long-running dispute over a 20-acre piece of land in Mlolongo, which remains under investigation.
A second vehicle linked to the attack, a Toyota Prado believed to have been used to block Dr Mutiso’s car, was recovered in Kisii County. The DCI says the vehicle’s owner confirmed it had been hired out to a suspect on July 27 and returned on July 30, the day after the killing.
According to the DCI, Dr Mutiso had booked an Uber from her home at Tanga Heights Apartments off Riara Road that morning, heading to the Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health in Upper Hill. Her driver told detectives that at around 9.23am, a black Prado partially blocked the road ahead of them.
As he slowed down, gunshots came from the rear left side of the car, where Dr Mutiso was sitting. He told investigators he saw a man firing a pistol at her before he sped past the obstruction and drove straight to Kenyatta National Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A post-mortem found she had been shot three times.
Detectives recovered two spent cartridges at the scene and a bullet head during the post-mortem, both of which were sent for ballistic analysis. The DCI says CCTV footage, vehicle tracking data, digital evidence and intelligence work have all been central to building the case so far.
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