A court has allowed police to detain actress Regina Wambui Gitau, popularly known as Regina Re, for 10 days as they investigate the killing of her 86-year-old mother, Dorita Lasinder Macharia, in Loresho, Nairobi.
Regina is being held alongside her brother, Antony Jimmy Macharia, her niece, Thandie Malaika Wanjiku Gitao, and her niece's boyfriend, Immanuel Waigwe Munyeki.
Regina and and her brother were found by police while allegedly attempting to interfere with the scene by cleaning the room where she was killed, the investigating officer told the court on Monday.
Kibera Law Courts Magistrate B.A. Amino was told that Dorita was found in a pool of blood in her home in Loresho Estate on the night of October 31, 2026.
What police told the court
The Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Investigating officer David Njoroge of the homicide department at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) told the court that preliminary investigations had established that Dorita had questioned her granddaughter, Thandie, about her conduct.
Police allege that she found Thandie and her boyfriend in a compromising position inside the house, and demanded that she leaves and hand over the keys she uses to access the home.
"She (Dorita) became upset and directed the 1st respondent to vacate her residence and surrender the keys," Njoroge told the court.
He added: "It was further established that the 1st respondent's (Thandie) friends were present in the house at the time. Dorita ordered them to leave the premises."
The court heard that, following the commotion, Dorita called her son to help evict her granddaughter. The magistrate was told that "the granddaughter subsequently left but later returned", after which she and her grandmother remained in the house for about an hour.
Dorita was then found lying in a pool of blood with a deep cut on the left side of her neck, the officer said. Thandie allegedly ran out of the house screaming "she is bleeding" and calling for help.
Both the prosecution and the family's lawyers, Senior Counsel Philip Murgor and Eva Kala, agreed that police need time to complete investigations.
"I support the prosecution's request to detain the suspects in police custody to enable the police complete investigations," SC Murgor submitted.
In her ruling, the magistrate said murder is a serious offence and that police need time to analyse CCTV footage, record witness statements and carry out a postmortem to establish the cause of death. The suspects will also undergo a mental examination to establish whether they are fit to stand trial.
The court noted that, after the investigation, the file will go to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to decide whether to charge the suspects with murder.
"The prosecution has established enough grounds to warrant the detention of the suspects for 10 days at Gigiri Police Station," the magistrate ruled.
The four were driven from court in a police vehicle to Gigiri Police Station, where they will be questioned.
