• A new prosecutor called a Nairobi-based taxi driver to testify, but he was allegedly shot dead by the accused persons on trial.
• Driver Alphaxad Kinyanjui returned home at Kerwa village in Kiambu and parked his car at his father's compound at 8m. He walked to his house but was attacked and robbed by a gang that shot him dead.
A prosecutor in a Limuru court on Wednesday summoned a dead taxi driver, Alphaxad Kinyanjui, to testify against the men who allegedly shot him dead.
David Njenga, Samuel Gicheha and Solomon Wachira are facing robbery with violence charges before Limuru senior principal magistrate Evelyn Olwade.
All witnesses were asked to walk out of chambers and were told they would be summoned one by one to testify.
According to the charge sheet, they denied that with others not before the court, while armed with a pistol, they robbed Eunice Nyambura of an Infinix mobile phone at Kerwa village on June 19, 2018, and threatened to kill her.
Another charge alleged that they stole an undetermined amount of money and a mobile phone from Alphaxad Kinyanjui whom they fatally injured.
The last charge stated that they robbed Sh200 from Naftaly Gicheha using force and threatened to kill him on the same evening.
However, when the prosecutor walked outside to call witnesses, he called out Alphaxad Kinyanjui's name.
But witnesses asking when he recorded a statement if he died after the robbery.
Kinyanjui's brother George Boro told the prosecutor that the person he was calling died the night he was shot and asked wh he was being summoned.
Confusion reigned. Though the accused's' lawyer was present, the prosecutor who was handling the case was absent.
The magistrate ordered the case be heard on February 4, 2020.
However, the family said they cannot blame the new prosecutor, since he had not studied the file to know who is who.
"Let us not blame him, since maybe he had not studied the file as we expected.
On the night of the killing, Kinyanjui went home from work and parked his car at his father's compound at around 8m. He walked outside heading to his house but was attacked by a gang who shot him. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Tigoni hospital.
(Edited by V. Graham)