Tob Cohen’s widow, Sarah Wairimu, has filed a case to block fresh charges, claiming that the Director of Public Prosecution’s decision is meant to conceal the killers.
Wairimu, in her case filed before the Constitutional Division of the High Court, said that the DPP had made a nolle prosecute (decision not to pursue a charge) but instead opted for an inquest to unravel what, who and why Cohen was killed.
The woman, in her supporting affidavit, claimed that she was a victim of the murder, adding that there is no explanation for why the DPP had remained silent for more than three years and failed to give his evidence against her despite numerous court orders.
“The protracted and well-calculated delay which is authored by the respondent and which delay has no reasonable explanation has not only infringed on my rights to a fair trial but has also discriminated against me as I am a victim of the murder of my beloved husband… The decision to charge me is motivated by other extraneous factors; therefore, there is a need for this court to intervene and safeguard the process from abuse,” argued Wairimu.
In 2023, the DPP indicated that the inquest allowed parties to provide information that had not been explored substantially.
“This will enable the contradictions that have affected the proceeding of this matter to be heard in detail by all parties. In addition, it will provide an opportunity for parties to present any information that had not been explored substantially before the court,” the DPP had said in a circular dated November 30, 2023.
Wairimu however argued that it was strange for the DPP to withdraw the inquest and make a decision to charge her with murder. She claimed the DPP was confident that the inquest would have revealed the killers.
“The respondent’s decision to terminate the inquest, which according to the respondent’s own admission was meant to uncover persons behind the gruesome murder of the late Tob Cohen, is testament enough that the Respondent is not interested in uncovering the real suspects in the murder but is only interested in punishing me through comprised investigations and evidence,” she said.
Cohen’s lifeless body was discovered in a septic tank at his Kitisuru home in Spring Valley, Nairobi, in 2019. The grim discovery occurred while Wairimu and her then-co-accused, Peter Karanja, had been arrested and held in police custody.
He was reported missing between July 19 and July 20, 2019. In her new case, Wairimu argued that the DPP intends to use the same evidence that was questioned in the fresh case. She claimed that on January 22, 2025, the head of homicide at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Martin Nyuguto, called her lawyer and asked him to accompany her to collect the items she had left.
The widow narrated that, in a dramatic turn of events, she was arrested and taken to the Kibera High Court on fresh charges. She said that while the DPP had raised integrity issues regarding the investigations, subjecting her to another trial was double jeopardy.
“The present criminal proceedings against me amount to double jeopardy since the same is founded on the same evidence in Milimani High Court Criminal Case Number 60 of 2019. The Republic vs Sarah Wairimu Cohen and Peter Karanja. Therefore, the respondent’s decision to subject me to evidence that it has admitted has integrity issues is not founded on good faith. It is a clear case of abuse of prosecutorial powers and has the effect of denying me my constitutional rights to a fair trial,” she claimed.
