BY NT CORRESPONDENT.
The owner of Fig Tree Medical Centre based in Ngara has been charged with murder of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) lawyer who was abducted and strangled before his body was dumped off Mombasa Road, Nairobi.
The medical practitioner David Muchiri Mwangi appeared before Lady Justice Jessie Lessit of high court criminal division and denied one count of murder of lawyer Jared Ratemo Mokua.
He is said to have committed the offense on July 11, 2017 at the fig tree medical Centre Ngara area Nairobi in Starehe Sub-County.
Lawyer Vincent Nyangayo pleaded with the court to detain the accused at Muthaiga Police Station so that he could hand over the files belonging to the patients.
“The accused is a doctor and a practitioner and I pray that he be held where he was before he was charged so that he can return the files to the patients,” said Nyangayo.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Catherine Mwaniki did not oppose to the application by defense but she said he can only be held there for seven days.
“We have no objection for him being detained at Muthaiga Police Station for seven days but after there he will be taken to Industrial area prison,”
said Mwaniki.
She added that on the issue of plea bargaining, they have not received a letter from higher offices but immediately they receive it, they will act on it.
The prosecutor added that they will avail committal documents to the defense in two weeks’ time.
According to court documents, the deceased was undergoing treatment at the facility.
Mr Jared Ratemo Mokua, 35 and a father of three worked as a supervisor at Kenya Revenue Authority’s Customs and Border Control Department, Consolbase Container Freight Services, Mombasa.
His body was found dumped at the junction of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport/ Mombasa Road long after he went missing. He had been strangled and hit by a blunt object on the head.
It is said that his brother Harun said Mokua had traveled to Nairobi to solve a tax related matter when he met his death.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko after the incident had ordered investigations into the macabre murder of a lawyer working with the taxman.
Mr Tobiko had nominated two prosecutors Cathrine Mwaniki and Riechi Meroka to assist and guide the police investigations into the incident.
Deputy DPP Nicholas Mutuku had earlier written to the Director of Directorate of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro to immediately and urgently commence thorough investigations into the murder.
“The DPP directs that at the conclusion of the said investigations, the inquiry file be submitted for perusal and appropriate directions,” said Mutuku in his letter dated July 13.
He and his wife ran a law firm that operates in Ngara area.
According to Harun, Ratemo had passed by his law firm in Ngara and left in hurry for a meeting in town and planned to travel to JKIA to catch his flight.
“When the wife tried to reach him at about 9 am, his mobile phone was not going through. She tried up to late and later decided to make a report to police,” said Harun.
He added police called them to break the sad news of the discovery of the body.
The doctor is also charged together with former Iment Central MP Gidion Mwiti.
The judge ordered the criminal trial to proceed on 14 October this year.
