DPP wants court to deny Sarah Cohen bail until protected witnesses testify
The application was, however, opposed by the defence team led by lawyer Conrad Maloba. They urged the court to reject the application, saying their client has been out on bond for the last six years

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga has urged the High Court to deny Sarah Wairimu bond until two key protected witnesses testify in the murder of her husband Tob Cohen.
Through Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Vincent Monda and from the Homicide Department Sarah Ogweno, the DPP opposed bail application by Wairimu, saying the suspect is likely to interfere with the two protected witnesses.
They told Justice Diana Kavedza that the DPP intends to rely on the two to secure the conviction of Sarah who has been charged with murder contrary to section 203 as read together with section 204 of the Penal Code where she is accused of murdering Cohen on the night of July 19-20, 2019, jointly with accomplices at large.
“The office of DPP wants to rely on the evidence of the two and Sarah’s conduct during the disappearance of the deceased and inconsistencies in her responses to investigators to build circumstantial evidence against her,” said Monda.
The application was, however, opposed by the defence team led by lawyer Conrad Maloba. They urged the court to reject the application, saying their client has been out on bond for the last six years.
Lawyer Maloba reminded the court that Sarah had been charged in relation to Cohen’s murder on September 12, 2019 and released on a bond of Ksh 2 million which was later released to her in November 2022 after the ODPP dropped the case.
The lawyer also opposed an application to order her out of Cohen’s home, maintaining it was not the deceased’s home but their (Sarah and Cohen’s) matrimonial home.
Monda and Ongweno relied on the affidavit of veteran homicides investigator, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Otieno, to oppose bail and bond terms and to demonstrate Sarah’s ability to interfere with the witnesses which they say will collapse their case against her.
“In the course of investigations, we established the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands had contacted the accused person (Sarah) on July 25, 2019 to enquire on the whereabouts of the deceased and that she informed them that he (Cohen) had left the country (Kenya) for Thailand on July 20, 2019,” states Otieno in the affidavit.
“Upon contacting the Kenyan Immigration Department, on information pertaining to the deceased’s flight itinerary, on the stated dates, we received information that the deceased never travelled outside Kenya as alleged by the accused.”
These inconsistencies in Sarah’s response is part of what the DPP wants to use to prove that Sarah had a motive and intention of murdering Cohen. The witnesses worked for the suspect and lived in the matrimonial home along Farasi lane in Lower Kabete, Nairobi County.
The DPP says Sarah had also interfered with the witnesses during the investigations of the murder, before the deceased’s body was recovered in a septic tank inside the compound.
These two are the witnesses the ODPP is intending to use to demonstrate prior planning for the murder of Cohen at the opening of the case.
“After the murder (of Cohen), the accused person instructed her workers to lie about material facts clearly intimidating prosecution witnesses,” Otieno’s affidavit reads in part indicating the witnesses’ statements on their intimidations were recorded.
“The accused person having been informed of the inquiry of the whereabouts of Cohen, she made a report of missing person at the Spring Valley police station under Occurrence Book (OB) number 17/6/8/2019.”
The affidavit says Sarah has made attempts to contact the former employees to implore them not to testify in the case and there is apprehension that she is likely to coerce and influence them so that they do not attend the court.
The investigator says the court should take notice that the suspect is charged alongside others at large and if released on bond, she is likely to interfere with the arrest of the accomplices.
The ODPP also wanted the suspect ordered out of the home which is a scene of crime.
In support of the DPP’s application,the family of the late Tob Cohen is seeking to prevent Sarah from accessing the house on Farasi Lane, where his body was discovered.
The judge will on February 18 deliver her ruling on whether or not to deny Wairimu bond pending the hearing of the two protected witnesses.