A party cut short ... a dispute with grandma; The mysterious death of 86-year-old Dorita Macharia

The suspects include the deceased’s daughter, popular actress Regina Wangui Macharia, alias Regina Re, her granddaughter Thandie Malaika, her son Jimmy Macharia and one other person.

Dorita was found dead in a pool of blood, with deep cut wounds, inside her Loresho home last Friday. 

With heads bowed and faces hidden behind masks and sunglasses, the four suspects made their way into the Kibera Law Courts.

In slow, measured steps, the four suspects walked into the courtroom as the prosecution sought more time to detain them for further investigations into the death of 86-year-old Dorita Lasinder Macharia.

The suspects are the deceased’s granddaughter, Thandie Malaika Gitao, Immanuel Munyeki, her son Alton Jimmy Macharia and her daughter, actress Regina Wambui Gitao, popularly known as Regina Re. 

According to the investigators, the deceased had a disagreement with her granddaughter, Thandie Malaika, on Friday night after she found her in a compromising situation with her boyfriend and ordered her to leave her house, together with other friends who were at the premises.

Investigating officer David Njoroge says in his affidavit that there was a commotion after which Thandie left but came back and remained with her grandmother inside the house for an hour, after which she was found lying in a pool of blood with a wound at the back of her neck.

The prosecution asked the court to grant detectives 15 days to hold the four suspects as investigators piece together the circumstances surrounding Dorita Macharia’s murder.

We hereby pray for custodial orders to have the four respondents detained for 15 days at Gigiri Police Station to allow the investigating officer to conclude investigations. The CCTV footage of the estate is yet to be retrieved and processed. 

Investigators are expected to record witness statements, witness a postmortem on the body of the deceased and obtain call data records of the suspects. 

Their application for custodial orders was fiercely opposed by the defence, which questioned the circumstances surrounding some of the arrests and argued that the prosecution had failed to demonstrate compelling reasons to continue holding the respondents.

"It's my submission that it's unlawful for the investigating officer to come to court and seek the detention of suspects under no charge for which they were arrested, " defence counsel David Oyata submitted.

The court granted the prosecution’s application, allowing detectives time to detain the four suspects as they continue with the probe.

The investigation is still at an early and sensitive stage. The duration of that detention must, however, be consistent with the direction required. They shall be detained at Gigiri for a period of 10 days.

The case will be mentioned on November 12, 2026.