- Constable Nicholas Musau was last month charged with fatally shooting a waitress and the club owner in Nakuru following a disagreement over Sh16,000 bill.
- Muhochi ordered that the pre-bail report be ready before the matter is mentioned on Wednesday for further directions.
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A Nakuru judge has directed that a pre-bail report be prepared to guide the court in determining whether to release on bond a police officer accused of shooting to death two people and wounding another in a bar.
Constable Nicholas Musau was last month charged with fatally shooting a waitress and the club owner in Nakuru following a disagreement over Sh16,000 bill.
Justice Samuel Muhochi has directed the probation department to interview the families of the victims and witnesses in the murder case to establish the suitability of releasing Musau on bond.
He ordered that the pre-bail report should be ready before the matter is mentioned on Wednesday for further directions.
Musau was charged with two counts of murder. The charge sheet stated that on December 11, 2023, at a club in Nakuru, he shot and killed waitress Ann Maina and owner Laura Kaswira.
The officer, who has been in custody since December 12, denied committing the offences and his lawyer David Mong’eri applied for his release on bail.
The application was strongly opposed by the prosecution led by Independent Policing Oversight Authority investigating officer Judith Kawira, who said that the authority had not concluded investigations into the shootings.
“When the murder incident took place, two people survived with gunshot wounds and are still admitted at the Rift Valley regional hospital, and the suspect is likely to interfere with them if released on bond because he is a police officer,” she said.
In an affidavit, Kawira said Ipoa had not recorded the survivors’ statements because they were still recuperating in hospital.
She stated that the suspect was attacked by members of the public immediately after the shootings, adding that holding him in police custody was in the interest of his personal security.
“The accused person is a flight risk who might desert and abscond duty owing to the gravity of the offences,” Kawira said.
The prosecution further claimed that Musau had a history of viciousness and being wild and might interfere with witnesses.
But Justice Muhochi dismissed all the grounds argued by the prosecution for denial of bail, saying that they were not compelling.
“There is no evidence to prove that the suspect is violent, a flight risk or might tamper with the witnesses,” he said.
However, the judge said there was a need for a pre-trial report from the probation department to ascertain Musau’s suitability for bail or bond.
He ordered that the suspect be held at Naivasha police station pending submission of the pre-bail report.