The six suspects expected to appear in court today in connection with the murder of former Juja MP George Thuo have said they are innocent and that they are just “victims of poor investigations by the police”.
The four men and two women who will answer to charges of Murder are Samuel Kuria Ngugi, Christopher Lumbasio Andika, Esther Ndinda Mulinge, Paul Wainaina Boiyo, Andrew Karanja Wainaina and Ruth Vanessa Irungu.
Wainaina is the proprietor of Club Porkies in Thika while Lumbasio is a friend of Thuo. Ndinda is the waitress who served Thuo with the Tusker Light beer that he took before his death while Vanessa is the woman reveler who bought Thuo a beer before his death. Karanja is a Disco Jockey at the club while Kuria is a waiter at the bar.
Yesterday, the suspects who are being held at the Muthaiga Police station and Evergreen police post in Runda narrated to their lawyer Cliff Ombeta the events before and after the death of Thuo. The male suspects are being held at the Evergreen police post while the women suspects are being held at the Muthaiga police station. They told the lawyer that they did not kill Thuo as claimed by the CID.
Lawyer Ombeta claimed that the police had conducted shoddy investigations and termed the arrest and prosecution of the six as “fishing expedition."
He poked holes into the Investigations by the CID and claimed that the police had not conducted forensic investigations to link the suspects to the murder.
“In the absence of forensic investigations, how do you tell that Thuo was poisoned at the bar and not anywhere else? It is possible that he could have been poisoned elsewhere and only died at the bar after taking beer,” said Ombeta.
Ombeta claimed that the police had decided to prosecute his clients because they came into contact with Thuo but lack sufficient evidence to link them to the murder.
“If by merely coming into contact with the deceased is the reason why they are in court today, why not then charge even doctors who handled him before his death?," said Ombeta.
A waiter at the bar, who requested for anonymity, claimed police had taken the wrong beer bottles from the bar and which they intend to use as evidence against the six suspects.
According to the waiter, the two
beers and an empty beer bottle and glasses that the deceased and other revelers whom he shared a table with used were broken when Thuo collapsed and hit his head on the table.
Another relative who also requested not to be identified claimed that the police had ignored information given to them by one of the suspects that Thuo had bought two energy drinks at a local shop before he started drinking at club porkies. The witness said police should also question workers at the outlet where Thuo bought the two drinks.
At the Evergreen post, family and friends visited the four men and even prayed with them ahead of their prosecution today.
Wainaina told the friends and relatives that he was innocent and “could not kill his dear friend."
To explain that, he claimed that Thuo had called him and invited him for a drink at the bar and could therefore not have had time to plan the murder.
A relative of Lumbasi said: "My brother was a good friend of Thuo. They had great plans together and therefore his death is a great loss. He could not have killed his dear friend."
CID chief Ndegwa Muhoro and his deputy Gideon Kimilu could not be reached for a comment because they did not answer their phones.
The six were arrested after postmortem examinations revealed that Thuo was poisoned by pesticide named ‘Karate' which is used for fumigation and removing weeds in farms.