Paul* knew something was wrong when he allegedly saw his friend Julius Cheruiyot run to the boda boda and bark at him to speed off.
A few minutes earlier, Paul claims Cheruiyot had alighted from the boda boda and told him to wait. In his account, during the wait, he heard a what sounded like a gunshot. And then another, and another.
Paul alleged that earlier that day, Cheruiyot, a police constable, had arranged a meeting with Paul and another officer at a restaurant in Nairobi’s Pangani shopping centre.
Paul and Cheruiyot had known each other for about two years. When they first met, Cheruiyot was based at South C Police Station, and Paul was operating his boda boda in the same general area.
Lawyer Kyalo Mbobu in court.
Photo credit: File | Nation
Cheruiyot would occasionally give Paul small errand jobs. That, and the fact that they both hailed from Bomet County and spoke a common vernacular language, birthed a friendship.
Paul later relocated to Pangani and, as fate would have it, Cheruiyot was transferred to the nearby police station. Their friendship and business arrangements were rekindled.
On September 10, 2025 at around 10am, the meeting Cheruiyot had arranged with Paul and another officer started. During the meeting, Cheruiyot referred to the other officer as “Afande Sang”, Paul has now told detectives investigating the murder of lawyer Kyalo Mbobu on September 9, 2025.
Paul has recorded three statements with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), giving investigators an account of how he alleges he was unwittingly drawn into the operation that ended with Mbobu’s murder.
A source involved in the murder probe told the Daily Nation that investigators are considering converting Paul into a protected State witness. That would entail the rider being guarded by the Witness Protection Agency.
In his statements, Paul said that the 10am meeting was largely consumed by small talk, and an arrangement that Paul would ferry Cheruiyot from one place to another later that day in return for Sh3,000.
After the meeting, Cheruiyot reportedly gave Paul a Sh1,000 deposit before everyone went their separate ways.
Detectives now believe that the other officer in the meeting was police inspector Kenneth Kipkemoi Sang, who is one of the prime suspects in the murders of Mr Mbobu and researcher Victoria Mutiso.
The detectives further believe that the purpose of that mid-morning meeting was for Sang to put a face to Paul’s name.
At around 2pm, Paul alleged Cheruiyot called asking where the boda boda rider was. Paul said he was with a client. Cheruiyot asked him to hurry up so that he could pick the police officer up at Pangani and leave for the mystery assignment discussed in the mid-morning meeting.
Paul, in his statement, says that he and Cheruiyot left Pangani before 3pm, and got onto Nairobi’s Langata Road. The two stopped outside the Galleria Mall at the junction of Langata road and Magadi road and then lay in wait.
At some minutes after 5:30pm, Cheruiyot reportedly received a call and then directed Paul to get onto Magadi road. About 50 metres from where Mbobu was shot dead, Cheruiyot allegedly told Paul to stop and wait, but not turn the boda boda’s engine off.
Paul in his statements says that he did not see Mbobu getting shot, but Cheruiyot came running and panting moments after hearing the gunshots.
He alleged he followed Cheruiyot’s orders and sped towards Langata road, which led them back to Pangani.
They got to Pangani after 6pm, Paul said, where Cheruiyot allegedly paid him the Sh2,000 balance of the fee agreed during their morning meeting.
While handing him the balance, Paul claimed in his statement, Cheruiyot directed him not to ever mention anything about that day’s events to anyone.
When watching the news later that day, Paul learned that a prominent lawyer had been killed along Magadi road, a revelation that helped him connect all the dots.
The following morning, Cheruiyot called Paul and reminded him to never speak of “the operation,” the boda boda rider alleged.
Paul says in his statements that he started to worry that investigators may arrest him, so he destroyed his sim card and got a new line. He also relocated to South B.
Sometime in December, Paul adds, he received a call from Cheruiyot asking where he had been. He says he revealed the relocation before they terminated the call.
In June, Paul alleges, he received a call from Cheruiyot. The police officer said there was another job, just like the one from September, 2025.
The rider told homicide investigators that when the officer shared the details of the new operation, he was hesitant and declined.
Cheruiyot and Paul were arrested on September 24 in Nairobi city centre. The following day, police recovered the motorcycle allegedly used to ferry Cheruiyot to the Mbobu murder scene.
Cheruiyot and Sang have been implicated by investigators in the murders of Mbobu and Dr Victoria Mutiso, a clinical psychologist who was gunned down in Nairobi on July 29, 2026.
Dr Victoria Mutiso, a clinical psychologist who was gunned down in Nairobi on July 29, 2026.
Other police officers, bodaboda riders and alleged financiers have also been implicated in the two murders.
Investigators allege that the murders were the result of a land dispute pitting Dr Mutiso and her husband David Musyimi Ndetei against Rose Mbithe Mulwa and her children Rose and Chris.
Ndetei and Mulwa were married, but divorced in 2001. Ndetei later married Mutiso.
Police argue that the Mulwa’s paid for the Mbobu and Mutiso killings following a protracted dispute over a 21-acre land in Mlolongo, Machakos County. Mbobu represented Ndetei and Mutiso in cases over the Mlolongo land.
While investigators hold that Mbobu and Mutiso were executed by police officers, Kenneth Kipkemoi Sang is the only officer implicated in both murders.
Sang is on the run, with investigators believing that he is hiding in Tanzania after escaping a police dragnet in Busia along the Kenya-Uganda border in September. The DCI said in a statement that the Mini Jericho pistol issued by police to Sang was used to shoot Mutiso.
The fugitive police officer is alleged to have roped in his colleagues and juniors Cheruiyot and Kipkemei into the Mbobu murder. Ballistic reports have shown that a Ceska pistol issued to Cheruiyot was used to kill the lawyer.
A second boda boda rider has also been arrested in connection with Mbobu’s murder. That second boda boda rider allegedly surveilled the lawyer to help the shooters know where Mbobu would be at a specific time, hence identify the best place to execute him.
For the Mutiso murder, Sang allegedly brought in a different set of junior colleagues, Elijah Kibelion Kimoi and Collins Bett Kiplangat. Kimoi is alleged to have used the gun issued by police to Sang in shooting Mutiso.
Samuel Karanja Gathoni and Daniel Mwangi Njoroge have also been arrested, with investigators alleging that they drove two vehicles used in the Mutiso murder.
Njoroge allegedly drove a black Toyota Prado which was used to block an Uber that Mutiso was travelling in when she was killed in Nairobi’s Upper Hill area.
Maritim Kimutai is alleged to be one of the planners of Mutiso’s murder. He was arrested when taking food to a suspect who was cooperating with investigators at Pangani Police Station.
The seven suspects in Mutiso’s murder have been charged. On September 25, the DCI was granted 15 days to hold the suspects in Mbobu’s murder to conclude investigations.
* Name withheld to protect the identity of the suspect who investigators say could be turned into a witness.
