High court allows detention of the wife of missing Dutch businessman for 10 days

Tob Cohen's wife Sarah Wairimu Kamotho in court. | PHOTO : Meshack Makau

BY PRUDENCE WANZA – High court has allowed the detention of the wife of missing businessman Tob Cohen for 10 days pending investigations.


Sarah Wairimu through her lawyer Philip Murgor had filed an application before high court judge Daniel Ogembo challenging the decision by Kiambu magistrate to detain the suspect for 12 days.


Murgor said the Kiambu magistrate made a ruling in which she misdirected herself in finding that there were sufficient grounds on which his client should be detained for 12 working days.


He further told the court that the DCI had not yet secured the home of Wairimu as a crime scene which ought to have been done if they were indeed serious with the investigations.


Murgor argued that a suspect has aright to be arraigned and charged and should not be held for more than 24 hours.


Senior Assistant Prosecutor told opposed the lawyer’s arguments saying that a court has options when dealing with a person brought before it. Muteti said that the court can choose to release a person on bail or detain him or her if there are compelling reasons to do so.


He further added that there was no material evidence placed before the court to show the Kiambu magistrate had misdirected herself in the ruling.


Muteti said that there was a justifiable reason to ask that suspect remains in custody pending investigations. He said that Cohen went missing on 20th July and it took his loving wife to 16 days to report with a lot of theories about how the missing person left but did not bother to report.


“Is this the conduct of a reasonable man? We can not tell without investigating why one would be quiet for sixteen days without reporting.” Muteti told the court.


Ogembo ruled that Wairimu be held for  10 days from the day the orders of Kiambu were made on September,2.


The matter will further be mentioned on 13th September at Kiambu Law Courts for prosecution to inform court whether they have decided to charge Sarah Wairimu or not.