Police obtain CCTV footage in bid to unmask Gladys Chania husband’s killers
Police on October 14 at the home of Mr George Mwangi (inset), who was killed and his body dumped in a forest.
A CCTV camera installed by a Chinese construction firm captured the moment the body of tycoon George Mwangi was dumped in a forest, police sources told the Sunday Nation.
Detectives are, therefore, relying on the footage to build their case. Mr Mwangi was the husband of Jubilee politician Gladys Chania, who is one of the two people in custody over the killing of the businessman.
The camera captures a vehicle police believe carried the body of Mr Mwangi to a forest after branching off at Thika-Mangu- Magumu flyover road. The vehicle belongs to Mr Mwangi.
The body was dumped in broad daylight on October 12, the same day it was found by locals heading home after working on tea farms.
Police believe that Mr Mwangi was killed on October 8 at night. Ms Chania had told the Nation on October 13, a day after the body of her husband was found in the forest, that he had walked downstairs from their matrimonial home in Mangu, Gatundu North on a Sunday morning and never returned.
She would later proceed to file a missing person report at Mwea Police Post under OB18/11/10/2022 at night.
“The vehicle and it’s driver was captured by a CCTV camera from a Chinese construction company that is constructing the Thika-Mangu-Magumu fly over road,’’ a detective, who was part of the team investigating the matter before it was taken over by Homicide Department from Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters, told the Nation in confidence.
''We have also gathered that after he was killed, the killers had no clear plan on how to move out the body. Many mistakes were made,’’ another police source said.
Police say the decision to branch off at Thika-Mangu-Magumu flyover road was strategic, given that there is a police road block that is mounted a few kilometres after many cases of people being killed and dumped in the forest were reported.
Yesterday, Head of Homicide Department at DCI headquarters Martin Nyuguto declined to comment on the status of the investigations.
“I am not ready to comment on the issue even for a second,” he said on phone.
At the site where the body was dumped, the Nation found burnt carton boxes that were used to wrap his body after he was stashed in a polythene bag.
To access the area, you pass through homesteads and then into the forest. A rough path leads one to the scene.
The whereabouts of Mr John Mwangi , Mr Mwangi’s farmhand who police say was sacked by Ms Chania on October 8, are not yet known. John was replaced by Maurice Mbugua, who is now a co-accused in the murder.
Ms Evelyne Onunga, a senior principal prosecution counsel from the Director of Public Prosecution, told a Kiambu court on Monday that they suspect he was eliminated by the same killers who murdered his employer given his mobile phone as well as his clothes were found intact in his room, with the former smashed.
Ms Onunga was in court seeking to have Ms Chania and Mr Mbugua detained for 14 days to enable the prosecution team conclude investigations saying the matter before them is complex.
The court, however, granted them seven days. The duo is expected at Kiambu Law courts on Monday next week.
