The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has arrested Police Constable Julius Cheruiyot on suspicion of being the gunman who murdered prominent Nairobi lawyer Mathew Kyalo Mbobu, more than a year after the killing, with a second suspect, a boda boda rider who allegedly ferried the officer to and from the scene, arrested hours later.
DCI Director Mohamed Amin announced the breakthrough in a statement on Thursday, September 24, 2026, saying detectives had identified and arrested Cheruiyot, of Nairobi Area, following what he described as an intensive and painstaking investigation stretching over the past year.
“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has made a breakthrough in the investigation into the murder of prominent lawyer Mathew Kyalo Mbobu. Following an intensive and painstaking investigation over the past year, detectives have identified and arrested Police Constable Julius Cheruiyot, suspected of being the gunman,” the DCI said.
Detectives recovered the Ceska pistol issued to Cheruiyot at the time of the killing, with ballistic examination confirming it was the firearm used in the shooting.
“As part of the ongoing investigations, detectives today recovered the Ceska pistol that had been issued to the suspect at the time of the incident. Ballistic examination has since confirmed that the firearm was indeed used in the shooting that claimed the life of Lawyer Mbobu. The finding provides a significant forensic breakthrough in the investigation and further strengthens the evidentiary trail being assembled by detectives,” Amin said.
The DCI separately described the arrest as “a significant development in the investigation.”
Hours after Cheruiyot’s arrest, detectives picked up a second suspect, Nicholas Lemiso Naula, within Nairobi’s Central Business District. According to the DCI, Lemiso is a boda boda rider who allegedly ferried Cheruiyot to and from the scene of the shooting and had reportedly fled to his house in South B after learning of the officer’s arrest, before being traced and detained there.
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Investigators say the case extends beyond the two men already in custody. Detectives have identified Inspector Kenneth Sang, currently still at large, as having allegedly coordinated the operation in liaison with Rose Mbithe, a suspect already in police custody over the July 2026 murder of clinical psychiatrist Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso.
Investigations point to Mbobu’s killing being connected to a property dispute involving Dr Mutiso’s family and Mbithe, who was previously married to Professor David Musyimi Ndetei, a case in which Mbobu had served as legal representative.
On September 9, 2025, Mbobu was fatally shot while driving home from work along Magadi Road in Nairobi, in what investigators described as a targeted attack, with witnesses saying the assailants approached and fled the scene on a motorcycle.
The Senior Partner at Kyalo & Associates Advocates, Mbobu also served as chairperson of Kenya’s Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) and taught law at the University of Nairobi, the Kenya School of Law and Multimedia University.
In the immediate aftermath of his killing, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen had said investigations faced early difficulty due to the absence of CCTV cameras at the scene, while appealing to the public for any information that could assist detectives. Three individuals initially held as persons of interest were later released for lack of evidence.
The DCI said the arrest of Cheruiyot and the recovery of the murder weapon have not brought the investigation to a close, with detectives continuing to pursue additional leads to establish the full circumstances, motive, planning and execution of Mbobu’s killing, and to identify all those allegedly involved, including the still-at-large Inspector Sang.
The case has also renewed scrutiny of internal police procedures, after it emerged that Cheruiyot’s service firearm had been returned to the armoury without undergoing the ballistic testing normally required of weapons used by officers, a lapse that has prompted fresh calls for all official firearms to be routinely tested.
Both Cheruiyot and Lemiso remain in custody undergoing processing pending their arraignment in court.
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