From left: Stephen Astiva, Mustafa Kimani, Raphael Kimani and Erick Isabwa in a Nairobi court where they were charged alongside three others with the murder of former Kabete MP George Muchai, his driver and two bodyguards.
A senior investigator has told the High Court that the seven suspects in the murder of former Kabete MP George Muchai and three others were in constant communication before and after the heinous crime.
The suspects made 193 calls on the fateful night, before the murders happened on the wee hours of February 7, 2015.
Testifying before Justice Kanyi Kimondo, Stephen Mwangi, an assistant police superintendent and a communication analyst, produced a communication data analysis from mobile service providers Safaricom and Airtel covering the period between February 1 and 10, 2015, for all the accused persons.
Former Kabete MP George Muchai who was assassinated on a Nairobi street in 2015.
The report showed the number of calls exchanged among the seven suspects during this period.
The call data also included calls made to a taxi driver who was hired to drive them to the scene of the crime outside Nyayo House, along Kenyatta Avenue, in the early hours of February 6 and 7, 2015.
Mr Mwangi told the court that the data analysis clearly showed the seven accused persons were in constant communication.
“From the call data analysis, Mustapha Kimani and Jane Wanjiru contacted each other 193 times,” Mr Mwangi testified before Justice Kimondo.
He added, “My Lord, the data revealed that the fourth accused person, Mustapha Kimani, had called his co-accused, Jane Wanjiru, 150 times, while Wanjiru had called him 43 times.”
Read: Was it suicide or foul play? Parents of Eldoret man found dead in court cells reject police theory
The judge further heard that the data also revealed that Stephen Astiva had contacted Raphael Kimani 77 times, while Kimani had called him 33 times.
The seven accused—Eric Isabwa alias Chairman, Raphael Kimani Gachii alias Butcher, Mustapha Kimani alias Musto, Stephen Astiva Lipapo alias Chokore, Jane Wanjiru alias Shiro, Margaret Njeri, and Simon Gichamba—have been charged with the murder of the MP, his two bodyguards and a driver.
'Comfortable relationship'
Additionally, the investigator said, the data showed frequent communication among the other accused persons, indicating an ongoing relationship between them.
Another witness, Morris Njuguna, a taxi driver, was also linked to three of the accused persons based on call data records.
“My Lord, the analysis indicates that there was a fairly comfortable relationship between the taxi driver and three of the accused persons, as evidenced by the call history before and after the murder incident,” the judge was told.
The officer further explained to the court how the suspects were apprehended through mobile signal tracking.
The arrest of Simon Gichamba led to the subsequent arrest of his six accomplices.
Mr Mwangi testified that they had forensically analysed the phone belonging to Jane Ngatu, who was robbed on the night of the murder when Mr Muchai, his two bodyguards, and his driver were killed.
Ngatu’s phone and vehicle were stolen during the incident.
“We tracked her phone for several hours. It remained on before being switched off and later turned back on with a different SIM card belonging to Gichamba,” the court heard.
"After robbing Ngatu, Gichamba removed her SIM card and inserted his own. We then tracked the signal, leading to his arrest," the officer stated.
Following his arrest and thorough interrogation by DCI officers, the information obtained led to the arrest of Mustapha and the other accused persons.
The charges state that on February 7, 2015, along Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi, they murdered former Kabete Member of Parliament George Muchai, his two bodyguards, Samuel Kimathi Kailikia and Samuel Lekakeny Matanta, and his driver, Stephen Ituu Wambugu.
In addition, the seven face ten counts of robbery with violence in the Magistrate’s Court related to the same night they allegedly killed Muchai.
The hearing continues.
