The investigation into the dumping of bodies at Nairobi's Kware dumpsite has taken a new turn after alleged killer Collins Jomaisu Khalisia told the Makadara court that police tortured him and forced him to confess to the killings.
Makadara magistrate Irene Gicobi allowed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to detain him for 30 days.
Earlier, Khalisia, the man police say confessed to killing 42 women, including his wife, stood still as he was brought before the Kiambu magistrate's court.
Wearing a tan jacket and black jogging bottoms, he appeared unfazed by a gaggle of journalists scrambling to photograph him.
In handcuffs, he smiled curtly and seemed unperturbed by his new host, oblivious to the capital offences he was about to be charged with.
Five police officers, two of them female, stood guard over him. Few, apart from journalists and the prosecution team, recognised him.
Inside the courtroom, Senior Principal Magistrate Peter Oooko questioned why the prosecution team wanted to file a miscellaneous application in Kiambu to further detain the suspect while they investigated him.
The magistrate questioned why the suspect was brought to Kiambu when his victims were neither from the county nor were the offences committed there.
He said there was no explanation from the state as to whether there were security concerns if the accused was arraigned in Nairobi.
Ultimately, the magistrate ordered that the application be filed at and heard by the Makadara Magistrate's Court in Nairobi.
Police believe the accused committed the murders between 2022 and July 11, 2024, and dumped his victims at Kware Kware in Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Embakasi South Constituency.
Mr Jumaisa's lawyer, John Maina Ndegwa, told the Nation that he would seek to challenge police claims that his client had confessed and owned up to the killings.
Confessing in private is different from confessing in court and you have seen what the police have done by making all sorts of allegations,'' he said.
