•Chania is suspected to have colluded in executing his murder with a new employee and other accomplices.
•The couple had been married for 20 years with three children.
Image: STANLEY NJENGA
Image: FILE
A Kiambu court has allowed police to detain Gladys Chania and Maurice Mbugua, the prime suspects in the murder of George Mwangi.
The duo will remain in police custody for seven days to allow police to complete investigations.
Kiambu Senior resident magistrate Wilson Rading said the two will appear in court on October 24 for further directions.
Senior prosecuting counsel Evelyne Odunga, in an affidavit, told the court that the DCI needs more time to do their investigations as they are investigating a complex murder case.
Odunga informed the court that the homicide division has taken over the matter since there is a missing person named John and police need to know his whereabouts.
"The homicide division has taken over the investigation since the matter is complex. There is one person missing," said Odunga.
Detectives arrested Chania on Friday. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said Chania is believed to have mooted the murder plan after she learnt about her husband's alleged love affair with a secretary at a local school.
Mwangi, 58, is a contractor based in Rwanda and arrived in the country on September 13.
Chania is suspected to have colluded in executing his murder with a new employee and other accomplices.
The couple had been married for 20 years with three children.
"However, according to multiple sources, their union seemed to have been undergoing turbulent times since the woman would mostly spend her time at their Thika home while Mwangi would stay at the splendid five-bedroomed Mang’u residence whenever he was in the country," DCI said.
The DCI revealed that the alleged affair begun shortly after the woman met Mwangi while house-hunting for a rental apartment.
He offered her one of his rentals next to his house.
The alleged affair was reportedly not a secret as the two spent a lot of time together whenever Mwangi was in the country.
DCI said they would be spotted at local entertainment joints and other social gatherings.
"Some of the family members intimated to detectives that the deceased had introduced the woman to his family as his second wife and she was well known to the extended family," DCI stated.
On the day Mwangi was murdered, he had attended a family function in Kimunyu accompanied by his love interest.
Chania also attended the event.
Witnesses said the alleged lover was on the driver’s wheel of Mwangi's double cabin truck and after the function, they headed back to Mang’u.
Chania had left earlier and was in the house when the two arrived.
That was the last time Mwangi was seen alive until the discovery of his body on Wednesday in Kieni forest by workers at the Kiamunyeki tea plantation.
The body was discovered in the forest wrapped in black polythene under a heap of cartons and empty bags of cement.
Detectives believe that the suspect placed a call to make a missing person's report after dumping the body.
The investigating detectives also learnt that Chania had hired a new employee, Morris Kamau, on the eve of the murder after a John Mwangi, who had worked for her for four years allegedly failed to return home after he was sent to deposit money on MPesa.