Murder suspects Chris Obure and Robert Ouko have denied involvement in the death of car dealer Kelvin Owenga.
While appearing virtually before Justice Mumbi Ngugi, the two denied killing Mr Omwenga on the night of August 21 in Kilimani, Nairobi.
They answered to the charge after the court declined a request by Mr Obure to be turned to a prosecution witness.
Justice Ngugi said Mr Obure cannot purport to instruct the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on whether to charge him with the criminal offence or have him appear as a 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 be entertained,” said justice Ngugi.
She also noted that in the application Mr Obure was asking the High Court to prohibit itself from proceeding with the prosecution of the accused on basis that such prosecution would violate his rights.
“The orders sought by the applicant in this application have no basis in law and appear to be brought in complete disregard or ignorance of the law relating to judicial review. Were they to be granted, they result in absurdity,” she ruled.
She said the application was a ‘nonstarter and an abuse of the court process’.
When urging the court to allow him be a prosecution witness rather than an accused person, Mr Obure said the DPP failed to consider crucial evidence of CCTV footage from his office.
The footage showed Mr Ouko retrieving a firearm from a safe in Mr Obure’s office and it later.
Detectives said the same gun was used in the shooting death of Omwenga at Galana apartment.
The DPP said he had obtained evidence placing Mr Obure within the vicinity where Mr Omwenga was shot dead.
“From our investigations the CCTV footage submitted to the investigators by Mr Obure had been tampered with and the same is still undergoing forensic analysis to establish its authenticity. The footage was extracted on the August 30, nine days after the commission of the offence,” an investigator told the court.
The suspects were remanded pending hearing of their bail application on Monday.
There's no story that cannot be told. We cover the stories that others don't want to be told, we bring you all the news you need. If you have tips, exposes or any story you need to be told bluntly and all queries write to us [email protected] also find us on Telegram
