Nairobi, Kenya, Nov 30 -The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji is seeking to withdraw the murder charge against Sarah Wairimu Cohen, the wife of murdered Dutch businessman Tob Cohen.
Instead, the DPP wants the murder case against Sarah Cohen and her co-accused Peter Karanja registered as an inquest to be filed in the Chief Magistrate’s Court-Milimani, Nairobi.
“I have been directed by the Director of Public Prosecutions to inform the Honourable Court that we have filed a Nolle Prosequi in the above matter and withdrawn the murder case against Sarah Wairimu Kamotho and Peter Karanja in the exercise of the DPP’s mandate under Article 157 of the Constitution and section 82(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code,” Gikui Gichui, the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions said Tuesday on behalf of the DPP.
According to the DPP, the inquest will enable the contradictions that have affected the proceeding of the matter to be heard in detail by all parties.
“In addition, this will provide an opportunity for parties to present any information that had not been explored substantially before the Court. Kindly have this letter and the Nolle Prosequi put in the appropriate file and placed in front of the Judge for directions,” the DPP said.
This move comes more than a month after Sarah Cohen called for the investigation and prosecution of ex-DCI boss George Kinoti over his role in alleged fabrications and skewed investigations against her.
The body of tycoon Cohen who was aged 71 at the time of his death was found in an underground water storage initially thought to have been a septic tank at his Kitisuru home in Nairobi on September 13, 2019.
Kinoti who was at helm of the investigative agency at the time visited the scene after the discovery of Cohen’s body and gave numerous media interviews.
“The body has been found in what we initially thought to be septic tank at his home but we later realized it was an underground water tank,” Kinoti told Capital News at the scene of a crime, accompanied by detectives from the DCI’s Homicide Department.
Following the discovery, Kinoti opened criminal proceedings against the victim’s wife who was named as the prime suspect in the brutal murder that shocked the nation.
But Sarah through her lawyer Philip Murgor called for the investigation of Kinoti following a revelation that the former DCI Director-General might have lied about the role of Court of Appeal judge Sankale Ole Kantai who was implicated in the murder of the Dutch tycoon.
In a sworn affidavit presented in court, a top DCI detective identified as John Gachomo argued that his former boss misled him into signing the document that implicated Justice Kantai.
“I can confirm that the contents of the Affidavit dated 27th September 2021 are neither based on facts nor documents from the file held by my office,” Gachomo said.
“That the contents of the said Affidavit are false and I therefore retract, deny of any knowledge and could not have been uttered by myself,” he added.
According to Senior Counsel Murgor, the confession by Gachomo means “everything in that Affidavit is a lie”, referring to the initial 77-page affidavit implicating Justice Kantai.
He went forward to say that the revelation also means that his client was charged based on lies and fabricated evidence created under the direction of Kinoti.
“He is therefore saying, when he was forced to sign the last page of that long Affidavit alone, the rest of the 77 pages of Affidavit are lies created by, with the connivance or under the direction of George Kinoti,” lawyer Murgor said on October 14.
He further claimed that they were aware that well-connected politicians linked to the immediate former administration had an interest in the case and the matrimonial property co-owned by the Cohens arguing that Kinoti in pushing the case against Sarah Cohen was working on the interest of the said politicians.
In the wake of the revelation, Murgor called on DPP Haji to open fresh investigations into the murder of Cohen.
“If necessary and at his discretion, he can choose any other foreign agencies to assist. We however have commented in the past that he should refrain from using the Dutch Police for obvious reasons,” Murgor said.
“The Dutch media who don’t seem to care very much for the truth, have carried narratives which appear to suggest that because Cohen was a Dutch person whatever they say against Mrs Cohen whether it is supported by evidence or not is correct,” he added.
Murgor stated that if the new investigations, should the DPP agree, find that there is insufficient evidence to charge any person, a judicial inquest should be instituted.
He added that in the event that the charges against Mrs Cohen are dropped, they will be asking for the immediate release of their jointly-owned estate including their matrimonial home and vehicles back to her.
On her part, Cohen’s widow said that she has never been given a chance to properly mourn her husband because of the investigation she described as a witch-hunt.
She urged the DPP to relook into the case for the sake of justice.
“I do appeal to the DPP if he can look into case and see that there is reason to look deeper. I am saddened when I think that the same people who are supposed to protecting us are the same who are fabricating falsehoods to get us into positions probably for their own benefit, but I know justice will be served hopefully in the shortest time possible,” she said.
The slain businessman and golf enterprise mogul had lived in Kenya for 32 years.
