• Magistrate Mutuku suspended the trial of Wangui until August 27 to give state prosecutor Anderson Gikunda time to verify the High Court orders.
Image: THE STAR
The court has stopped the trial of a woman accused of planning to kill her estranged husband in order to claim compensation from three insurance companies.
Milimani senior principal magistrate Martha Mutuku issued orders stopping the Director of Public Prosecutions Nordin Haji from initiating the trial of Emmah Wangari Wangui after the court was served with two orders issued by Justice Jessie Lesiit and Justice Christine Meoli.
Mutuku suspended the trial of Wangui until August 27 to give state prosecutor Anderson Gikunda time to verify the High Court orders.
The magistrate was told by a defence lawyer that police had been pursuing Wangui to charge her for attempting to kill Evans Karanja Mwangi whom they cohabitated with before separating then claim compensation.
Criminal charges against Wangui and one Peter Mwaniki had been presented to the magistrate by Gikunda.
“So that this court is not accused of disobeying the High Court orders, Wangui will not be called upon to plead but Mwaniki will answer the charges,” Mutuku ruled.
A joint charge against the two was that of forging the national identity card of Mwangi which was allegedly presented to officers of the three insurance companies to secure his accident insurance cover.
The insurance companies are ICEA Life Assurance Company, APA Insurance Limited, and Britam.
Mutuku directed the case against Wangui to be mentioned on August 27 for the prosecution to confirm the High Court orders prohibiting her prosecution.
Wangui's lawyer said the orders had been served to the Inspector General of Police, the DPP, the Director of Criminal Investigations, and Evan Karanja Mwangi.
The case seeking to restrain the trial of Wangui has been listed for hearing on October 7, before the High Court in Kiambu.
Mwangi's lawyer said his client had reported to police that his life insurance covers had been secured using a forged national identity card with an aim of killing him to claim compensation.
“The complainant has been calling for the arrest of Wangui who has since separated with Mwangi after cohabitating for some time,” a defence lawyer said.
He said attempts to have Wangui and Mwaniki arrested by officers from Kiambu and Thika police stations were futile. the two were however arrested after a report was made at the Capitol Hill police station within Kilimani in Nairobi.
Mutuku heard the suspects were arrested on Thursday last week.
“A cursory look at the two High Court orders shows they were issued in May this year,” Gikunda stated.
“I will recuse Wangui from plea taking until August 27 to enable the prosecutor to secure the two High Court orders and report in two weeks,” Mutuku said.
She ordered Mwaniki to plead to the charges but freed Wangui on a bond of Sh500,000.
Mwaniki denied seven charges of forging of a national identification card of Mwangi, uttering the same ID to the insurance companies to secure compensation and impersonation. He was released on a bond of Sh500,000 with one surety or an alternative bail of Sh200,000.
Mwaniki denied forging the national identification card of Mwangi on June 23, last year.
edited by peter obuya