Lawyer Angella Mulwa is set to stand trial for the murder of prominent psychiatrist Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso, after prosecutors filed a murder charge against her at the High Court, following three separate arrests and two brief periods of freedom in the space of just over a week.
Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga informed Milimani Chief Magistrate Joan Mati that Mulwa will face trial alongside her mother, Rose Mbithe Mulwa, also known as Rose Mbithe Ndetei, and her brother, Chris Mulwa, who is an advocate.
She was taken back into custody immediately after two senior assistant directors of public prosecutions, Jalson Makori and Gikui Gichuhi, told the court that a murder charge had been formally registered at the High Court, a development that came just after Mati had dismissed Mulwa’s attempt to block police from holding her for a further 14 days to facilitate investigations.
This marked the third time Mulwa had been arrested within days. Her most recent detention came barely five days after she was re-arrested at Mavoko Law Courts on August 19, having just been released on Sh1 million cash bail alongside Nelson Masiga.
The pair had spent 14 days in custody while police investigated allegations of forging documents linked to a Sh1.5 billion parcel of land in Mlolongo, theft of high-end vehicles belonging to Dr Mutiso, and malicious damage to property, before Mavoko Resident Magistrate Lilian Kwamboka ordered their release.
The following day, Mulwa, 53, appeared before Mati, where DCI homicide detectives sought a fresh 14-day detention order, this time in connection with the murder investigation itself.
Mati initially released her from custody while she considered whether her court even had jurisdiction to hear the request, given that a court of equal standing in Mavoko had already dealt with a similar application. Her lawyers, Danstan Omari and Martina Swiga, opposed the new application, arguing that it amounted to an abuse of the process of the court.
“This court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the police 14-day detention request. Allowing this court to do so would mean it is sitting as an appellate court, yet it is of equal jurisdiction,” Swiga told the court. Omari went further, accusing the state of “forum shopping for a suitable magistrate” and arguing the matter was res judicata, having already been settled by a competent court.
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Mati rejected that objection in her ruling, finding that Mulwa had not met the legal threshold required to stop police from detaining her for questioning. She reasoned that the Mavoko court’s earlier decision had dealt specifically with the forgery, property damage and vehicle theft allegations, whereas the application before her concerned the separate murder investigation, and on that basis allowed the DPP to proceed with the fresh detention request.
Makori then asked that the matter be referred to Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsaringo, who had already ordered Mulwa’s mother and brother detained for 21 days. Omari opposed this too, arguing that the two matters were distinct.
“In the Onsaringo matter, Angella is actually a lawyer for her mother and brother. The case is now being convoluted by the State,” he said.
Mati adjourned briefly to prepare her ruling, but on resuming, Makori interjected before she could deliver it, informing the court that the DPP had by then registered a murder charge against Mulwa, her mother and her brother at the High Court, meaning the magistrate’s court no longer had authority over the matter.
“This court ceases to handle this matter. You are now released to the DCI officers from the homicide division,” Mati ruled.
Mulwa was handed over to Corporal Romana Oduor and other homicide detectives to record a statement ahead of her production before the High Court for plea taking, with Omari and Swiga following the vehicle to DCI headquarters to witness the process.
According to the charge sheet filed at the High Court’s Criminal Division, Mulwa, her mother and her brother are accused of murdering Dr Mutiso on July 29 at around 9.30am along Mawenzi Road in Nairobi’s Kilimani area, jointly with others not yet charged.
Prosecutors allege that Police Constable Elijah Kibelion Kimoi, attached to Karinde Police Post under Kikuyu Police Station, carried out the killing together with Daniel Mwangi Njoroge and Kevin Ngugi Kinuthia. Njoroge is accused of driving the Toyota Prado that blocked Dr Mutiso’s vehicle, while Kinuthia is alleged to have ridden the motorcycle that brought Kimoi to the scene, where he is accused of shooting Dr Mutiso at close range.
Detectives have since widened their search for two other police officers wanted in connection with the killing, enlisting Interpol’s help to trace the fugitives, who are believed to have fled to Uganda.
Inspector Kenneth Kipkemboi Sang and Police Constable Bett Kiplangat Collins remain at large as investigators pursue what they suspect may be a wider network linking financiers, police officers and those who allegedly carried out the shooting.
Fresh court filings suggest the killing may have been planned months in advance, with a Sh300,000 down payment allegedly made to the suspected killers on April 24.
Dr Mutiso, a prominent neuroscientist and former Director of Research and Administration at the Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health (AFRIMEB), was shot dead while travelling in an Uber in Nairobi’s Upper Hill area. Her mother and brother are expected to appear before Onsaringo for further directions; they had been held at Kileleshwa and Kilimani police stations, respectively.
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