A mother, her two sons and a daughter were yesterday charged with the murder of her first born son.
Mrs Jane Wanjiku Mutahi and Mr Simon Murage Mutahi, Ms Lydia Njoki Mutahi and Mr Shem Kiama Mutahi, denied murdering Mr John Maina Mutahi at Githiru village in Nyeri on October 20 over a land dispute.
Two weeks ago, Githiru village was shocked when police exhumed the decomposing body of Mr Maina Mutahi, 35, after he went missing.
Yesterday, the mother, her two sons and a daughter asked a Nyeri court for copies of the charge sheet and evidence.
The four family members were brought to court yesterday under tight police security where they had been remanded for the last two weeks during the investigations.
They had been taken before Nyeri High Court Deputy Registrar Kenneth Cheruiyot on November 10, where the prosecution asked that the four be remanded for two weeks for further investigations.
The prosecution applied
for the transfer of the four suspects from the Nyeri police station, where they have been held since their arrest to King’ong’o prison remand.
The decomposing body of Mr Maina Mutahi was found buried in a shallow grave in a coffee farm at the homestead on November 9 after several days of searching.
Police had been acting on a tip-off that he may have been killed and his body disposed of much earlier.
The family members had been reportedly telling neighbours that he had travelled to Mandera.
After the body was found, angry villagers burned down three houses in the homestead including that of Maina.
Mr Maina Mutahi’s body was reburied on November 17 in an emotional ceremony
which was organised by members of the clan and the local administrators.
The deceased was the first born in the family, and according to the police, he was killed because he differed with his family on the sale of the family’s land after their father died.
The mother and her children were remanded until February 7 for the mention and setting a hearing date.
The court also ordered that they be supplied with the copies of the charge sheet and documentary evidence as they requested.
“The accused persons will now be remanded at King’ong’o prison. They will be supplied with the copies of the charge sheet and documentary evidence,” said Justice Wakiaga.
Source: Daily Nation
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