Sleepy companionless and upset, City lawyer Assa Nyakundi will spend more days behind bars after the Director of Public Prosecution asked the court to withdraw a case against him and charge him afresh.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has filed for a review and asked the court to withdraw the case and charge him afresh.
Reports from the newsrooms indicate that Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Teresia Nyongena on Thursday allowed the DPP’s application to review the manslaughter charge against the lawyer.
The renewed investigations follow the interdiction of the lead investigator, Inspector John Wahome, who, alongside other officers, will be subjected to an inquiry into the handling of the lawyer’s case.
It was Mr Wahome who recommended that Mr Nyakundi be charged with the lesser charge of manslaughter, a move that has seen the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti and DPP Noordin Haji recall the files and order a public inquiry.
Sources say the inquiry will also centre on the reasons why the Government Chemist failed to reveal the results of the analysis requested by detectives, 43 days after the post-mortem report was carried out by Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor.
The public inquiry will shed light into homicide investigations in the country and how police handle evidence before it is presented to the court.
City lawyer Assa Nyakundi with his lawyers Ken Nyaundi (l) and Cliff Ombeta in the dock at a Makandara court.
In his report, the interdicted officer, Mr Wahome, said the suspect was “negligent in handling his firearm” and recommended that he be charged with the offence of manslaughter.
All along, and in his cautionary statement, Mr Wahome says he was “inquiring into an offence of murder”.
Mr Nyakundi has maintained that the firearm accidentally discharged a bullet, but a report by the firearm examiner says the weapon was in “good general and mechanical condition”.
The the case will be mentioned on May 10 for directions.