- The judge had questioned the prosecution on why the report was taking too long to be availed in the court.
- In response, Otieno claimed he travelled to South Africa but was unable to obtain the report from the unnamed laboratory.
Image: FILE
The High Court has given the DPP the last chance to avail a pathologist's report showing the cause of the death of former Juja MP George Thuo obtained from South African lab.
Justice Roselyne Korir gave the Director of Public Prosecutions more time following an application by senior state prosecutor Charles Okeyo who said they had not obtained the report from South Africa.
The judge said the report has delayed the trial since 2019 when it was supposed to be produced in the case.
When the judge asked the investigating officer chief inspector Maxwell Otieno why he has not obtained the report, he told the court he has been unable to get it since they were demanding Sh1.7 million to release it.
The revelations emerged during the hearing of the case against six suspects charged with Thuo's murder.
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 judge had questioned the prosecution on why the report was taking too long to be availed in the court.
In response, Otieno said he travelled to South Africa but was unable to obtain the report from the unnamed laboratory.
“Your honour, l was unable to get the report from the laboratory since they were demanding Sh1.7 million in order to release the sample results,” Otieno said.
The report is crucial in the matter as it is expected to reveal what caused Thuo's death.
The court was informed that following the death of the MP, some samples from his body were extracted and sent to South Africa for analysis.
The defence lawyers supported the decision to have the report from South Africa tabled in court as evidence in the case.
Last week the investigating officer, during his testimony, told the court that Thuo was poisoned through drinks at Porkies bar in Thika town nine years ago.
Otieno told Justice Korir that they took bottles of Tusker beer and the clothes which the deceased was wearing to the Government Chemistry where the result revealed that Thuo was poisoned.
He said Peter Ndegwa, who conducted a postmortem on Thuo, informed him that the deceased was poisoned and that he died due to excessive bleeding.
The officer told the court that he interviewed all the accused in the case and found out that from their own statements, there was a possibility that they took part in the alleged poisoning.
He said Thuo was served with three bottles of beer at the bar according to their investigations.
At the same time, the judge issued summons for a former detective from DCI's office Frank Onuda to testify.
This is after it emerged that some bottles and glasses which he forwarded to the Government chemistry for analysis were recovered in Thuo’s car contrary to the earlier indication by the prosecution that nothing was recovered in the car which was parked within Porkies bar.
-Edited by SKanyara