A Nyeri magistrate whose lawyer husband was shot dead in their posh Lukenya home on February 17 has been arrested in connection with the murder.
Senior principal magistrate Pauline Omungala was summoned by Athi River police officers investigating the murder and locked up yesterday as a suspect.
Lawyer Robert Chesang’ was shot seven times in their Machakos home at about noon.
The murder was described as an assassination.
Omungala’s arrest brings the number of suspects being questioned to five. All are in custody.
A senior police officer told the Star, “The motive was domestic violence between the deceased and his arrested wife, occasioned by fighting for property and leading to their cases appearing before courts. The wife felt that being a magistrate, she was being embarrassed by the cases being handled in courts,” the officer said.
The marriage had been violent. There were complaints of domestic violence that forced the couple to seek court redress.
One case was filed by the Chesang’ seeking protection against domestic violence.
In case number 47 of 2018 Chesang’ had alleged that he had been forced to move out of his house because his wife was violent and was using police officers to harass and intimidate him.
Subsequently he requested the courts grant him unconditional access to his home. He claimed the locks to the home had been changed. The house was also under police guard.
Chesang’ also said Omungala had transferred his two children to a new school and denied him access to them.
“From August 17 to date, I’ve lost all that I’ve acquired progressively since I started married life due to illegal actions of the respondents. I have technically lost the house, the cars and all my earthly belongings,” Chesang’ said in an affidavit.
He also asked the court to allow him access to his two vehicles, a Lexus and Premio, which he claimed were being used by police officers.
He had expressed dissatisfaction on the manner his case was being conducted, alleging interference from his wife and other magistrates. His case had been transferred five times before a ruling was made.
For example on September 24 last year, he wrote that while seated at a different table, senior resident magistrate Linus Kassan loudly discussed the case on the phone.
“I’m in charge of court and I have instructed and ordered the trial magistrate to suspend the ruling coming up on Friday 21 of the domestic violence matter. I will make sure that a ruling will never be delivered on the matter. The trial magistrate is not conducting the case in the way I want,” he quoted the magistrate as having said.
In response, Kassan wrote three texts messages, asserting that he had never interfered with Chesang’s case. He said the lawyer used the claim as a tactic to ensure the case was not assigned to him after other magistrates opted out.
“Could that be your tactic — attack me so that I don’t touch the file? You don’t need to worry, brother. I have never seen your file. One day you will know that you were wrong,” he said in an SMS.
The same week, Kassan was transferred to Machakos law courts.
Chesang’ asked the court to order “competent” police officers to investigate the assault charges against him afresh, claiming they were manufactured by his wife. He was locked up for three days before he was released on Sh10,000 bail.
“I pray that the false accusation on assault by wife OB 24/17/08/2018 at Athi River be investigated afresh by the Machakos county commander or any authority without interference from wife and a report be filed 21 days later,” the affidavit read.
“I pray that the court orders the first respondent [Omungala] stop being violent and misusing the police to harass and humiliate innocent people, twisting things to portray herself as the victim and making false claims to the police.”
Chesang’s application, which ran concurrently with the assault case against him, was initially met with obstacles after three magistrates disqualified themselves before the case was placed under Machakos chief magistrate Yusuf Shikanda.
In his ruling on November 9 last year, Shikanda dismissed the police on jurisdiction grounds and ordered that Chesang’ be escorted to his home so he could collect his belongings.
The officer, who did not want to be name, said the magistrate was introduced to a senior former NIS officer with whom she discussed her troubles.
“She was introduced to a senior person, a former senior NIS officer with whom she shared her predicament with the husband. The former NIS officer has been identified as the one who identified the assassins, all police officers and assigned them the job of killing Chesang,” he added.
The officer said a DCI team conducted an operation in Samburu county, Baragoi town and arrested the former senior NIS officer Lawrence Lempesi on Saturday.
He said it is believed that Lempesi was the link between Magistrate Omungala and her husband’s murders.
The DCI chief revealed that another operation was carried on Saturday in Yatta subcounty in Machakos by a different DCI team, following up on a second police officer from Mutuini police post in Riruta, Nairobi. But the surrendered himself to the DCI office in Dagoretti.
“The ballistic experts did analyse the fire arms, AK-47 rifles from Mutuini police post, against the cartridges recovered from the scene of Chesang’s murder. Two of the fire arms were identified as the ones which were used to murder him,” he said.
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“This morning, with evidence, Magistrate Pauline Maisyo Omungala was arrested to face charges of murdering her husband alongside others,” the officer said.
He said investigations are ongoing and more suspects were being pursued.
Th suspects are expected to be arraigned today
Also in police custody is sergeant Richard Lorunyei Moru of Mutuini police post, Riruta, and his son Geoffrey Angoria Moru.
The duo was arrested in Nairobi, Bunyala Road Roundabout while proceeding to Vigilance House in Nairobi by detectives from Athi River led by CCIO Machakos on February 26.
They were in a Pajero car that was being sought in connection to the lawyer’s murder.
The officer, however, said Angoria will be released since he is innocent. Omungala has served as a magistrate in Wundanyi, Milimani, Kangundo, Kajiado, Mavoko and currently in Nyeri for the last five years. She moved from Mavoko to Nyeri.