For the family of Kenneth Kamto, December 12, 2018, began as uneventfully as any other day, save for Jamhuri Day, which the country was preparing to celebrate.
However, less than four hours before sunrise, the peaceful atmosphere was violently disrupted by masked intruders, who forced their way into the Nyali residence of the former Kilifi deputy governor in the early hours of the morning as he returned home from his engagements.
Armed with a pistol, the intruders robbed the family of phones, valuables, and—most tragically—Kamto’s life.
The tragic event, which was meticulously planned and executed, left the police grappling to identify those involved and uncover the motive behind the grim occurrence.
What initially seemed impossible unfolded favourably for detectives from the Homicide Unit, led by Chief Inspector Raphael Wanjohi.
A Swiss Plus One handset, stolen from the house help, Uchi Zuma Mkaha, played an unexpected starring role, providing a breakthrough that would lead to the arrest of six people believed to have participated in the crime.
The suspects included Julius Gitonga, Joseph Amwayi Mukabana, Florence Mbithe Mwanza, Joseph Shoi Chege, Clementina Nerima, and Muasya Kiteme.
The records revealed the sequential use of the stolen phone by different individuals, starting with Chege and progressing to other suspects.
The detectives first obtained call data records for all the victims. When they did this, they discovered that one of the stolen phones, a Swiss Plus One, was being used.
The investigators obtained the IMEI history of the phone and were able to identify all the SIM cards that had been used in the phone during the relevant period.
This led to the arrest of Chege and Nerima, and the phone was recovered from Nerima. Further interrogations of the two led to the arrest of Mukabana, whose call data records were subsequently obtained.
“We established that Mr Chege had had phone communication with Mr Mukabana at the material time,” said Mr Wanjohi in his evidence while being led by State Counsel Ngina Mutua.
Further investigations led to the arrest of Gitonga and Mwanza at a house in the Kwa Bullo area. It was in this house that a pistol allegedly used to kill the deceased was recovered.
“We recovered mobile phones belonging to the deceased, his widow, Fawzia Dear Omar, and Ms Uchi from the same house,” Mr Wanjohi told the court.
Mr Wanjohi also informed the Shanzu court that they established communication between Gitonga and Mukabana through call data records. The records also revealed communication between Mukabana and Kiteme on December 11, 2018, and the following day.
The state subsequently charged all six individuals with violently robbing Kamto and his family of their belongings.
Gitonga and Mukabana were specifically accused of fatally shooting Kamto and robbing him of three mobile phones valued at Sh28,000.
The two were charged alongside Kiteme, alias Mwaa, who later became a prosecution witness after entering into a plea bargain agreement with the state. He is currently serving a 15-year jail term.
Mwanza was charged with Gitonga for dishonestly retaining three mobile phones belonging to Kamto and his wife, knowing or having reason to believe they were stolen property.
She was also accused of having a pistol loaded with 18 rounds of ammunition on January 6, 2019, in the Kwa Bullo area.
Gitonga and Mwanza were further accused of possessing the loaded pistol on the same date at Kwa Bullo.
Chege and Nerima were acquitted in 2023 for lack of evidence linking them to the offences after the prosecution closed its case.
The prosecution produced call data records for Kiteme, who was the first prosecution witness. At the time, he was using a Safaricom line.
The records, spanning December 6, 2018, to January 16, 2019, indicated that Kiteme spoke with Mukabana on several occasions between December 7, 2018, and January 2, 2019.
On Tuesday, Gitonga and Mukabana were found guilty of several counts of robbery with violence after Senior Principal Magistrate Yussuf Shikanda ruled that the prosecution had proved its case against the two beyond reasonable doubt.
“I find that there is sufficient evidence to corroborate the testimony of Kiteme that Mr Gitonga and Mr Mukabana were part of those who broke into the deceased’s house and robbed the victims therein,” said Mr Shikanda.
The magistrate further noted that the direct and circumstantial evidence on record positively identified the two as participants in the robbery at the deceased’s house, alongside Kiteme, who was the sixth accused.
“The evidence further proves that it was Mr Gitonga who shot and killed the deceased. The prosecution evidence has satisfied the key ingredients of the offence of robbery under section 296(2) of the Penal Code,” stated the magistrate.
Gitonga was additionally convicted of the offence of possessing a firearm. Mwanza was acquitted of all charges against her.
During the trial, the court heard a detailed reconstruction of the events leading to the crime.
Testimonies from Kiteme were particularly instrumental. Having entered a plea bargain, Kiteme provided a chilling account of the night, naming Gitonga and Mukabana as co-conspirators.
According to Kiteme, the trio had staked out the target house in Nyali and carried out the robbery with calculated precision.
Call logs corroborated Kiteme’s testimony, showing frequent communication between the suspects. This placed them in Nyali on the fateful night, aligning with the crime’s timeline.
“The totality of the prosecution evidence places Gitonga in Mombasa on December 12, 2018. The call data records for Mukabana place him at Nyali Beach Hotel on the same date at 4.10 am.
“According to the call data for the deceased person, this was the same location he was when he last used his phone at 3.31 am,” said the magistrate.
The court noted that further evidence showed this was the same location where the deceased’s wife’s stolen phone was last used on December 11, 2018, at 8.14 pm, and where the stolen phone belonging to Uchi was last used on December 12, 2018, at 12.05 am.
“It is thus safe to conclude that Mukabana and the victims herein were within reach of the same BTS in Nyali, Mombasa, on the material night,” said the magistrate.
“This testimony was not rebutted at all. The testimony of the boda boda rider placed Gitonga and Mukabana in Nyali on the material night,” said the magistrate.
The Oppo and X Tigi phones stolen from Kamto’s residence provided additional evidence. The phones were traced to the suspects.
These recoveries not only tied the suspects to the robbery but also solidified the role of digital evidence in modern criminal investigations.
Key witnesses, including Kamto’s widow and the house help, identified the stolen items, adding further weight to the prosecution’s case.
Additionally, forensic analysis confirmed that the deceased’s blood matched samples on clothing recovered from one of the suspects, directly tying them to the crime.
The court also relied on CCTV footage retrieved from a nearby property and the victims’ and witnesses’ accounts to reconstruct the events of the night.
Evidence from 24 prosecution witnesses, including police officers Ventah Andayi, Firearms Examiner Mbalani Alfred, Ballistics Expert Alex Chirchir, Government Analyst Irene Mwaringa, and Cybercrime Expert Karanji Wanyoike, corroborated the testimonies of other witnesses.
Government Pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor, who conducted a post-mortem examination, stated that the cause of death was bullet injuries that resulted in significant blood loss.
Through proper analysis of call data, the prosecution proved Gitonga and Mukabana’s involvement in the crime, placing them at the scene of the crime and effectively dismantling their defences. The two are awaiting sentencing.
