Third suspect in court over Kelvin Omwenga's murder

A third person was presented in court over the murder of car dealer Kelvin Omwenga.

On Thursday, detectives asked a Nairobi court to detain Congolese national Vatha Bahati Josue for seven days to enable them to conclude investigations.

The detectives said they want to establish what Josue is doing in Kenya and whether he was involved in the murder of Omwenga. 

Defence lawyers opposed arguing that two suspects were charged with the murder yesterday before Justice Mumbi Ngugi. 

The magistrate Sinkiyian Tobiko declined to detain Mr Josue and granted him Sh100,000 bail. 

Mr Josue was arrested on Wednesday and detained at the Kilimani Police Station before he was arraigned on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday, murder suspects Chris Obure and Robert Ouko denied involvement in the killing of car dealer Kevin Ombati Omwenga.

While appearing virtually before Justice Mumbi Ngugi, the two denied killing Omwenga on the night of August 21 at Galana Apartments in Kilimani, Nairobi.

They answered the charge after the court declined a request by Mr Obure to be turned into a prosecution witness.

“Indeed, it seems to me that it would be to stretch the boundaries of review of the DPP’s discretion to a point where it would be against the public interest were applications such as this to be entertained,” said Justice Ngugi.

Mr Obure said the DPP had failed to consider CCTV footage from his office.

The video evidence, he said, showed how the security guard broke into the businessman’s office and retrieved the firearm from a safe. The footage, he added, also shows Mr Ouko returning the gun after the shooting.

But the DPP said he had obtained evidence placing Mr Obure at a residential apartment in Kilimani where the car dealer was shot dead.

The accused were remanded pending hearing of their bail application on Monday next week.