Julius Mogoi, the prime suspect in the murder of former Treasury official Tom Osinde (inset), in a Nakuru Law Court on February 12, 2025.
Ms Jane Nyambeki, the mother of prime suspect in the murder of former senior Treasury official Tom Fred Osinde, has linked her son to the cold-blood killing that shook the country.
Osinde's body was found floating in River Kuja in Kamagambo, at the border of Migori and Kisii counties, on June 22,2023— four days after his mysterious disappearance from his Ngata Farm in Nakuru on Sunday, June 18, 2023.
While testifying in the case at the High Court in Nakuru, Ms Nyambeki narrated an ordeal that links her son to the disappearance and subsequent killing of the former Treasury employee.
The mother revealed that her son visited their home driving a Toyota V8 belonging to the deceased before his body was discovered floating in the river.
She recalled that she was asleep when she heard a disturbing knock on her door on the night of June 18 and 19, 2023.
Upon opening the door, she was surprised to see her long-lost son Julius Mogoi standing right before her.
Mogoi, 30, had been away for five years since 2018, when he left the home after they differed over a planned sale of a parcel of land.
She welcomed him into the house, but he insisted that he wanted her to follow him so that he could show her something he had left by the roadside. She complied.
He led her to a spot where he had parked a Sports Utility Vehicle, a Toyota Landcruiser V8.
Loud music was blaring from the motor vehicle, which had already attracted the attention of the neighbours at Utambe village in Kisii County, she told a Nakuru Court.
In her testimony before High Court Judge Julius Nang'ea, Ms Nyambeki said her son claimed the vehicle belonged to him.
Childhood friends
The following day, she saw the vehicle at the same spot, as she went to the farm while her son was catching up with his childhood friends.
She however did not find the vehicle after she returned from the farm in the afternoon.
“It was a big black motor vehicle, which l later learned was a Toyota Land Cruiser V8. It had been parked by the roadside near my home. But when I returned from the farm it was not there,” said Ms Nyambeki.
The witness said she had lived with the son until 2018 when he left home after they differed. He never told her where he was or what he was doing even though they regularly spoke on phone.
“We spoke on the phone, but he did not tell me where he stayed or what he did. I didn't even know where he worked or the person he worked for,” said Ms Nyambeki.
On the third day, the mother said Mogoi sent her grandson to deliver some items she said her son wanted her to keep for him.
"On a keen look at the items l discovered that they were various car parts. This was suspicious," she told the court.
“He showed me the items which were two speakers and a vehicle jerk. One speaker was smaller than the other. They were in a blue bag. I called the area assistant chief to come and see the items as I wondered why the equipment was brought to me yet I didn't have a motor vehicle…,” said Ms Nyambeki.
The administrator came and saw the items and called the police whom he said were investigating the disappearance of a Treasury staff Tom Osinde from his Ngata home in Nakuru County.
"The following day, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers arrived at my home and took the items with them. They interrogated me, my grandson and some neighbours, including a Mr Samson Osiro, before they left," she told the court.
Mr Osiro, who also testified before court, said he was asleep at midnight before he was woken up by the loud music from a car.
He went to see who it was only to discover it was his childhood friend Julius Mogoi, who had parked the Toyota V8 by the roadside and his mother and nephew had come to see to see the vehicle.
“He proudly opened the car boot to show off the car. I saw a power saw, pressure seat, TV set, woofer, among other items with the light from the car boot,” he recalled.
After catching up for some time, he retreated to sleep.
The following day, Mogoi asked him to assist in cleaning the car at the nearby river. He agreed.
Mogoi however, did not allow him and his friend to step inside the car. He asked them to hang outside as he drove to the river.
“We washed the car but he did not allow us to clean the inside of the vehicle. On our way to and from the river we held on the grills on top of the vehicle from outside as Julius drove,” said Mr Osiro.
Later in the day, the witness said Mogoi drove alone to Kenyenya centre, after giving some items to his 12-year-old nephew to take them to his mother.
The next time he met Mogoi, the witness said he was walking without a vehicle, while carrying a bag.
This was before the police arrived and interrogated them over the disappearance of Mr Osinde.
He later learned that the vehicle had been discovered by the river bank.
An autopsy conducted on the body of Osinde at the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital showed that the former Treasury official was slashed to death.
The autopsy report by Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor revealed that the slain ex-Treasury official was slashed on his head twice, with one cut going through the back of his head and severing the spinal cord at the level of C7.
The C7 segment of the spinal cord bears the primary load from the weight of the head and supports the lower part of the neck.
The other cut went through the right side of the head and fractured the skull with injury to the brain.
He died because of the blows to his head with the injuries to the brain.
Osinde was a brother to the late Ambassador Ken Osinde, the former chief of staff in the office of President William Ruto (then deputy president).
Mr Mogoi was arrested on June 28, 2023, from his rural home in Kisii County in connection with the murder.
He confessed to the detectives of having killed Mr Osinde and dumped his body in River Kuja. He later led them to the River Kuja, in Migori County, where Osinde’s body was retrieved.
He was charged with his murder on July 31 but interestingly despite having confessed to committing the murder, he denied the offence. The hearing will continue on May 15 and 20.
Editor’s Note:Clarification — an earlier version of this article’s headline had erroneously indicated that Julius Mogoi is being tried over the murder of the late Fred Osinde’s brother, the late Ken Osinde. The late Ambassador Ken Osinde died at a Nairobi hospital in Nairobi on December 10, 2021. We apologise to the family of the late ambassador for any inconveniences caused.
