Police thwart attempted murder of Nairobi businessman

Detectives in Nairobi are holding a suspect in custody over allegations of plotting to assassinate a businessman within the county.

Investigators say the suspect, who was arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts, is the mastermind of the plot and had allegedly hired assassins to kill the businessman. 

The suspect in custody and the businessman are embroiled in a court battle over a property, which is believed to be the reason for the murder plot.

The police told the court that two other key suspects in the plot were still on the run. 

The said businessman, James Mwangi (not his official name), was to be killed in July 2024, according to an application presented in court by an investigating officer based at Central Police Station in Nairobi.

The conspiracy to kill him had been plotted on diverse dates since the beginning of July this year until it was foiled at the beginning of August.

In his affidavit, investigating officer George Karanja placed Winfred Wandia Kisau, Rosemary Muathe and Marvin Omondi Absalom at the centre of a plot to kill the businessman.

"Back in July 2023, the businessman entered into a lease agreement with the owners of a building in town. Twenty-one days later, another woman who had previously claimed ownership of the same building appeared, making the same claim," explained a witness.

In 2023, the businessman started the process of acquiring a four-storey building within the CBD at an initial cost of Ksh.1 billion. This would be the genesis of his problems.

Investigators say Rosemary Muathe, who was an interested party and had previously leased the same property, got into an ownership tussle with the businessman who wanted to acquire it.

The dispute ended up in court, with Justice M.D. Mwangi of the Environment and Lands Court ordering the parties in the initial lease agreement to go for arbitration to sort out pending issues. However, the court order, he says, was not a deterrent.

"She continued, even breaking into the property. We reported this to the police at Kamukunji, and the fight for ownership has been ongoing for a long time. She used influential people and all sources," added the witness.

According to the investigating officer, the suspect, together with accomplices still on the run, plotted to eliminate the businessman in meetings in Nairobi and its outskirts.

The suspect, Winfred Wandia Musau, was arrested on the first of August in Nairobi and booked at Central Police Station.

Police say she introduced Marvin Omondi Absalom to Rosemary Muathe, and several meetings were held on how the murder was to be executed.

Investigators are seeking to retrieve communication data from the suspect’s mobile phone, as it is believed she was in communication with other persons yet to be arrested.