High Court has given the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) a stern warning over the delay of a pathologist’s report that will lay bare the findings on the cause of death of former Juja MP George Thuo from South African lab.
The DPP was given last chance to dispense the case, which has been pending trial since 2019.
Justice Roselyne Korir gave DPP additional time following request by Senior state prosecutor Charles Okeyo who said they were yet to obtain the report from South Africa.
Okeyo notified the judge that the state had failed to obtain the report since the unnamed laboratory demanded Sh1.7 million.
“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 details emerged during the case hearing against the six suspects charged with Thuo’s murder.
The six include 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.
Another critical detail that emerged was that some bottles and glasses that he forwarded to the Government chemist for analysis were recovered in Thuo’s car, contrary to earlier indication by the prosecution that nothing was recovered in the car parked within Porkies bar.
This additional information saw the Judge summon a former detective from DCI’s office Frank Onuda to testify.
Last week, during the hearing, the investigating officer testified 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 the deceased was wearing to the Government Chemist, 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 died due to excessive bleeding.
The report is crucial as it is expected to reveal what caused Thuo’s death.
