A Milimani court has ordered three additional suspects linked to the murder of Dr. Victoria Mutiso to remain in custody for 30 days while police finish investigating the high-profile case. Authorities transferred Police Constable Collins Bett Kiplangat and civilian Pius Muiru Mbugua from Uganda back to Kenya on Tuesday to face murder charges. A third suspect, Samuel Karanja Gathoni, challenged the prosecution’s request for custodial orders and denied claims that he posed a flight risk. Bett and Mbugua appeared before the Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday and remained silent as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) asked for orders to detain all three suspects for 30 days to allow further inquiries into Mutiso’s murder. State prosecutors argued that the suspects could abscond and warned that police could not guarantee their safety, pointing to intense public attention surrounding the shooting. Gathoni firmly opposed the application. His lawyer, SGI Oriaro, told the court that authorities had already violated his client’s constitutional rights. “His rights as an arrested person, including to be admitted to bail and not be held within the precincts of the Constitution, as we speak, his rights have already been violated,” Oriaro said. Senior Principal Magistrate Teresia Nyangena rejected the defense’s arguments and ordered the three suspects held at the Ruaraka, Kileleshw...
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