How protests grounded operations of the High Court and magistrate’s courts

“We feared that prison vehicles could be attacked and prisoners freed. We did not want to take chances. Therefore, we liaised with the courts to mention cases virtually and re-allocate them to new days,” a senior prisons officer told the Nation.

Magistrate courts at the Milimani law courts, Makadara law courts, Kibera Law Courts, City Court and even Kiambu Law Courts only mentioned cases for suspects out on bond.

“I cannot put my life in jeopardy by driving through the already blocked roads. If anything happens to me, it is my family that will suffer. Magistrates will remain away from our working stations until the protests over fuel price increase are over,” a magistrate told the Daily Nation.

Only two magistrates were mentioning and re-allocating cases at the Milimani Law Courts.

The failure to produce suspects facing murder cases affected many high profile cases, including the one against Sarah Wairimu who is charged with killing her billionaire Dutch husband Tob Cohen.

Her trial was scheduled to commence before Kibera High Court Judge Diana Kavedza on May 19,2026 but was re-allocated to May 25,2026 due to the demonstrations.

The case was listed for trial after losing a spirited legal fight to quash the ongoing case by having it declared a mistrial. Following the dismissal, Ms Wairimu will now face her accusers in the trial that has been spread between May and July 2026.

Dismissing the application to sink, the trial judge said her plea to declare the case null and void then order it starts denovo (afresh) and recuse herself, lacked merit.

In her application, Ms Wairimu claimed the judge was biased towards her and had made rulings in preliminary issues raised by her lawyers’ in a manner that tilted in favor of the prosecution

However, the judge ruled that she lacks jurisdiction to declare the relief sought to declare trial of the widow a mistrial.

“If the applicant (Sarah Wairimu) believes that constitutional legal errors have occurred, the proper recourse lies in the appeal. Accordingly, this court finds that it lacks jurisdiction to grant the principal prayers seeking nullification of proceedings, rulings, and expungement of evidence,” ruled the judge

The judge held that she acted in accordance with the law during the proceedings.

She added that the mere fact that the accused has changed advocates was “not a cogent reason to press for the case to start afresh.”

Start afresh

Ms Wairimu had applied through Senior Counsel Pravin Bowry to refer the case to the presiding judge criminal division of the High Court to appoint a new judge to start hearing the case afresh.

The judge upheld the objection raised by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga that the application lacks merit and intended to delay the conclusion of the six-year-old murder case.

Ms Wairimu, is charged with murdering her husband in July 2019 before allegedly dumping his body in a septic tank at their Lower Kabete home, Nairobi County.

In her application, she alleged that her constitutional rights under Articles 20, 25, and 50 were violated, claiming unlawful uploading of evidence, improper court orders, denial of cross-examination, and the conduct of “mini trials.”

The prosecution has so far called three witnesses and around 37 others are listed to testify.

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