Boost For Kinoti as Court Makes Major Decision on Cohen’s Murder Case

The head of Directorate of Criminal Investigations(DCI), George Kinoti, may have a sigh of relief after a Nairobi Court made a decision to hear his objection first to Sarah Wairimu’s contempt suit that she filed against him.

On Tuesday, October 15, Wairimu, wife to the estranged dutch tycoon Tob Cohen, filed an application at the High Court seeking to have Kinoti detained for contempt of court.

Director, Directorate of Criminal Investigation, George Kinoti

Wairimu, who was charged with killing her husband, claimed that the DCI disobeyed court orders issued on September 16, 2019.

High Court Judge Jessie Lessit in September barred the DCI as well as the prosecution from addressing the media on the investigations and evidence in the murder of the Dutch tycoon.

According to Wairimu who filed the application through her lawyer Philip Murgor, Kinoti was prosecuting the case outside the court by giving information on ongoing investigation to media.

Philip Murgor with his client Sarah Cohen Wairimu in Court [Image, Courtesy]
Lawyer Philip Murgor with his client Sarah Cohen Wairimu in Court [Image, Courtesy]
Kinoti, in his response before High Court Judge Daniel Ogembo, argued that Wairimu and her lawyer Murgor wanted to control the investigations and the trial process which in his opinion was an extreme abuse of court process.

The director, through his lawyer Donald Kipkorir, argued that the application by Wairimu was in itself in contempt of court, a publicity stunt and a deliberate scheme by the applicant and her lawyer to prematurely argue her innocence.

He further argued that Wairimu’s lawyer was using the application to channel long-standing angst and malevolence against him and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

He added that the court had no jurisdiction to hear Wairimu’s application, as the consent of the DPP was not sought nor granted to institute criminal contempt proceedings.

Philip Murgor is a former director of the office of Director of Public Prosecutions.

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