•After the miscellaneous application, Kiambu Chief Magistrate Patricia Gichohi granted the investigators 14 days to hold him.
•Jennifer went missing on March 12, but her body was found in Kerarapon area in Ngong the following day.
Image: COURTESY
A third suspect has been arrested in connection to the murder of NLC official Jennifer Wambua.
Peter Njenga alias Sankale, 44, was picked up from his home in Embulbul in Ngong on Tuesday by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Homicide Unit.
Njenga who officials believe has crucial evidence to help them in the probe, was produced in court on Wednesday.
After the miscellaneous application, Kiambu Chief Magistrate Patricia Gichohi granted the investigators 14 days to hold the suspect.
She ruled the orders will be reviewed on April 26.
Jennifer went missing on March 12, but her body was found in Kerarapon area in Ngong the following day.
Police say they are investigating a murder incident.
The investigators searched Njenga’s house in Embulbul on Wednesday but it is not clear what was recovered.
The arrest brings to three, the number of suspects in custody over the killing.
On April 8, the investigators arrested a boda boda rider and a herder who were among the people spotted at the scene where the body was found.
Benjamin Saitoti and David Sempuan were presented to the Kiambu court on April 9. The court granted the investigators two weeks to hold them.
The investigators have made several trips to the suspects’ houses in search of evidence.
Saitoti and Sempuan walked to their village elder in Ngong area to say they saw the deceased woman alive.
They made the confessions before police were called to pick them up.
This came almost a month after the incident had happened.
Police are now banking on forensic analysis of the suspects’ mobile phones and DNA analysis to unravel the murder mystery.
A pastor and a friend who were among the last people to speak to Jennifer on phone have recorded statements.
It is claimed the pastor encouraged her to go to the place where she died to pray for her problems to go away.
Police are now waiting for the results of various tests being carried out to establish if the men were involved in the murder.
Various samples picked up from the deceased were taken to the Government Chemist for analysis.
Preliminary findings show Jennifer was sexually assaulted.
DNA analysis will be conducted on the samples picked to confirm if any of them was involved.
The suspects were taken to the Government Chemists where they gave their samples.
The two have told police they met Jennifer lying at the scene on March 12 and held a brief discussion with her before they were joined by another man they can identify.
It is not clear if the said man is Njenga.
According to the suspects, the man stayed with Jennifer until late when they left.
The suspects claim Jennifer looked depressed and sad and asked for water. The man is said to have left for the nearby shopping centre from where he returned with the water.
The suspects told police they left the scene leaving behind Jennifer and the man talking.
The team believe the man who bought the water sexually assaulted Jennifer before killing her.
It is not clear if Jennifer took a matatu to the area or walked there.
The area is about 20 kilometres from the City Centre where Jennifer had been spotted earlier on.
So far, a section of staff at the National Land Commission has been questioned as part of the probe.
Police believe Jennifer was depressed out of work or domestic-related issues.
An autopsy showed she was strangled by bare hands.
Police handling the case said their probe is focused on NLC and involves imprests that the deceased had taken and was probably stressing her.
Her husband Joseph Komu was also questioned by police for two days.
He told police his wife had become prayerful and would go away for up to three days for prayers.
Komu said she seemed disturbed days before her death.
She was supposed to be on a five-day leave from March 8 but showed up in the office on March 12, the day she went missing.
Jennifer left all her belongings including her handbag and mobile phone in their car and walked away leaving no trace of her next destination.
On the day she went missing, she was dropped at work at about 7 am and walked to her office at Bishop Gardens in Upper Hill with her bag and lunch box in hand.
She later walked out of the office after almost an hour and went to where their family car had been parked, opened the boot and placed the personal belongings there including her mobile phone before walking away to an unknown place.
It was until the following day that her body was found in a thicket in Ngong area.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris