A case in which six people have been charged with murdering former Juja MP George Thuo will proceed on February 4.
Six people have been charged with the murder they denied poisoning the former lawmaker at Porkies bar in Thika town on November 17, 2013. They are club owner Paul Boiyo, alias Sheki; Thuo’s aide Christopher Andika, alias Lumba; DJs Andrew Wainaina; Samuel Ngugi, alias Visi; waiter Esther Mulinge; and patron Ruth Irungu, alias Atlanta.
The last four witnesses, including a pathologist who conducted a postmortem in South Africa, will testify. Ten other witnesses, including Thuo's widow, have testified.
During the last hearing, a witness produced a postmortem report in court to prove that Thuo was poisoned. Andrew Gachii, a consultant pathologist and forensic specialist, told Judge Roselyn Korir that Thuo died from haemorrhagic gastroenteritis caused by poisoning.
He said he participated in the joint postmortem on behalf of the family, alongside government pathologist Peter Ndegwa. Led in his evidence in chief by senior state counsel Charles Okeyo, Gachii said he prepared his first separate report indicating that there was a possibility of poisoning.
He said he waited until he received another postmortem report from South Africa and concluded Thuo was poisoned. Another report by a toxicologist said Thuo was poisoned while having a drink at a Thika nightclub. The report was admitted as evidence. The defence had objected to its admissibility on grounds that it may be inconclusive, lacking credibility and may not “assist the court to arrive at any conclusion”.
However, Judge Korir upheld a counter-argument by then-prosecutor Alloys Kemo that the report was prepared by an expert whose evidence is admissible in law. Wandera Bideru, a retired government chemist, had testified that he found traces of a deadly pesticide in samples he analysed and on clothes the deceased wore on the day he collapsed at Porkies Bar in the company of his friends who are charged with his murder.
