BY SAM ALFAN.
High Court Criminal Division has ordered immediate detention of the wife of missing Nairobi based Dutch businessman Tob Cohen’s wife Sarah Wairimu Kamotho at Langata Women Prison
Vacation Judge Charles Kariuki further Wairimu to undergo mental assessment before pleading to the murder charges.
According to a charge sheet filed in court by the prosecution, Sarah Wairimu Kamotho on the night 19 and 20 July jointly with others not before court murdered Tob Cohen.
Cohen is a former Chief Executive Oofficer of Philips Electronics East Africa and was reported missing in July and it is 60 days since his disappearance.
This after the Director of Public Prosecution through Catherine Mwaniki told the court that they are ready to charge Wairimu with the murder of Cohen, her husband.
However Mwaniki said that they want her taken for medical assessment first to ascertain whether she is fit to take plea which is a requirement for all murder suspects.
Wairimu’s lawyer Philip Murgor opposed the submissions by the prosecution saying that they can not charge Wairimu since there are no copies of evidence and it has not yet been established whether Cohen is dead or not.
Mwaniki opposed stating that there are witnesses together with their statements which ought to be protected.
“The procedure in charging a person with murder usually is to take a suspect for mental assessment while in custody, take plea and after that they can apply for bail,” added Mwaniki.
The case will be mentioned on Monday before the justice Jessie Lessit for plea taking next.
The matter will be mentioned next week before High Court criminal division presiding Lady Judge Jessie Lessit for further directions.
