High Court judge recuses himself from ex-Kabete MP George Muchai’s murder case

High Court judge Justus Bwonwong’a has disqualified himself from hearing further the trial of seven p****e among them two women accused of murdering former Kabete MP George Muchai, his two bodyguards and a driver nine years ago.

Justice Bwonwong’a recused himself from the case, saying he could not continue hearing it since he is proceeding on his retirement from the judiciary.

This is a major setback to accused persons since the matter may begin afresh following the change of judicial officers handling the case. The suspects have been in court corridors since 2015 when the matter was first filed in court.

At the same time, the judge has declined to reduce the bond terms he earlier imposed on the accused persons, saying the Ksh700,000 bond with alternative cash bail of Ksh 500,000 granted to each of them was reasonable.

He directed the matter to be mentioned on April 25 before the h**d of the criminal division for the purpose of allocating to another judge to proceed with the trial.

The judge disqualified himself from the case after Chief Government Pathologist Dr. Johansen Oduor finished his testimony in chief.

In the case, Eric Isabwa alias chairman, Raphael Kimani alias Kim Butcher, Mustapha Kimani alias Musto, Stephen Astiva alias Chokore, Jane Wanjiru alias Shiro, Margaret Njeri and Simon Wambugu have since denied murdering the former lawmaker, his two bodyguards and a driver.

While giving his evidence on a postmortem report Dr. Oduor told the court that the former MP was shot at close range with either a G3 r***e or an A**7 gun.

He told the court that the gunshot entered through the right side of his abdomen all the way to his right n****e.

The Government pathologist said that the area was blackened, meaning burning of the skin around the entry caused by fragments of metal and g*******r.

The government pathologist who conducted the postmortem on the body of Muchai told the court that the former MP was dressed in a stained black suit at the time his body was taken to Lee Funeral Home in February 2015, for postmortem. He said Muchai had a white shirt and a white vest.

In his postmortem report, Dr. Oduor said Muchai had lost a lot of b***d which explained the pale condition of his body was in. He had rib fractures and there was b******g on both sides of his chest.

The postmortem report indicated that Muchai’s heart was mildly enlarged. He assumed he might have been hypertensive. His liver weighed 1,500 grams meaning it was fatty. His stomach was normal, it contained food. His kidneys had features of nephropathy.

“This is a feature seen in p****e who have h**********n or diabetes,” Dr Oduor said. He said he also took samples from his liver, kidney, b***d, stomach and other organs for a toxicology examination.

He said he found it necessary to do so to know the level of alcohol in Muchai’s b***d. He wanted to know whether he was too i*********d to react. The doctor has however never received the results of the toxicology examination to date.

He however clarified that the absence of the results couldn’t have made a difference in the cause of death. The witness also gave evidence regarding the postmortem of one of Muchai’s bodyguards—Samwel Kimathi.

Kimathi, according to Dr. Oduor, had a bruise on the right side of his h**d. The b****t that killed him excited at the area of the left shoulder blade. The doctor concluded that Kimathi died as a result of chest injuries from a single gunshot at close range.

Muchai, his driver Stephen Wambugu and two bodyguards police constable Samwel Lekakeny and Kimathi were killed on the morning of February 7, 2015, in Nairobi.

Another witness who has since testified in the case told the court that the g*****e on Muchai’s c*r took less than one minute.

Sergeant Saverio Mugo, a police officer attached at Nyayo House at the time of the incident who was the first officer to go to the scene of crime, told the court that he was on night duty when the incident happened.

Mugo said he was with his four colleagues and at 3 am they heard continuous g******s coming from Uhuru Highway and Kenyatta Avenue roundabout that lasted less than one minute.

Even though he did not witness the shooting he said the g******s they heard happened so fast and in quick succession. He testified that together with two other officers they decided to go check and left one of them to keep guard.

When he arrived at the scene, he saw the MP’s c*r had g******s and there was a second saloon c*r parked behind it. “In the c*r, I saw four men and there was b***d all over inside the vehicle,” he said.

Mugo further said he then called one of his bosses to explain what had happened and shortly two police officers in uniform joined them.

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