High Court orders immediate release of murder suspect granted bail by lower court

The High Court has ordered immediate release from custody of a murder suspect, who has been held in custody despite being granted and released on cash bail by subordinate court.

Milimani High Court Judge Alexander Muteti ordered immediate release of Cecilia Wangari Karisa who has been in custody from February 21, saying that police violated her rights to liberty as granted by the Constitution.

Justice Muteti indicated that the continuing detention of the suspect is prejudice to the law considering the Makadara magistrate’s court had released her on cash bail of Ksh 250,000 and directed Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers to continue with investigations into the death of Maxwell Wamwea which occurred on May 11, 2022.

“Keeping the suspect in custody is violating the law and it is illegal. The court had heard the matter and released the suspect on bail and that did not prohibit investigators to pursue investigations,” Justice Muteti said.

Justice Muteti further directed the DCI to continue with the mental assessment and DNA sampling while the suspect enjoys her right to liberty.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, through the state prosecutor Christine Timoi, had asked the court to allow continued detention of Wangari until March 3 to allow for a mental test and the extraction of DNA samples which would help them conclude investigations and prefer charges against her.

Timoi told the court that so far they do not have order from the court seeking the mental assessment of the suspect nor conducting her DNA test.

“Your honour, we are in the process of acquiring those orders in preparation of charging the suspect but we do not have the orders yet,” she told the court.

Timoi further told the court that the DPP gave orders of arrest against her for mental assessment on February 215, the same day she was released by the Makadara court.

She argued that the arrest did not violate the rights of the suspect and it is not a deviation from the norm considering the cash bail would be refunded back to her.

“Your honour, it is not an extraordinary thing whereby the DCI seek time for investigations and they conclude investigations before the period granted and bring the suspect in court for trial,” Timoi submitted.

She said that the DCI produced an application seeking her detention for the purpose of DNA sampling and mental assessment where their application would be abandoned before March 3, 2025 and have the suspect charged with murder.

However, the defence lawyer Wadungi Kirathe opposed the application by the prosecution, saying that the investigators had enough time to conduct the DNA sampling and mental assessment since the alleged offence took place in 2022,

“Your honour, the application by the prosecution is not in good faith. The alleged offence took place in May 2022. They could have completed investigations since they had enough time,” Wadungi told the court.

The lawyer insisted that the constitutional rights of his client has already been violated since she was brought to court from Capitol Hill police station despite paying a cash bail granted by the court and no explanation was given on the same.

He informed the judge that the DNA process is still far from being conducted since the deceased has not been exhumed for the collection of samples and the prosecution intended to prejudice the rights of his client. He submitted that the DCI is acting maliciously to harm and violate his client’s rights and they want to be granted a sympathetic order by the court.

He urged the court to dismiss the application stating that “pre detention orders cannot be given that lightly. State could have utilised the time granted by the subordinate court rather than seeking for more time even before the time given lapses.”

He pointed out to the state citing that they deliberately refused to utilize the time given to appear in court seeking for more time. He urged the court to release his client and she will be complying.

In conclusion, he prayed the court to release Wangari on bond executed or rather continue with plea taking.

The matter will be mentioned on March 10 for directions.