NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 7 -Three serving police officers have been implicated in the assassination of prominent mental health expert Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso, with detectives revealing that one allegedly supplied the murder weapon, another pulled the trigger, and a third helped coordinate the carefully planned killing.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Friday said Inspector Kenneth Kipkemboi Sang, the Officer Commanding Nderi Police Post under Kikuyu Police Station, is believed to have played a central role in coordinating the operation by linking the financiers to the execution team and providing the firearm used in the murder. He remains at large.
Police Constable Elijah Kibelion Kimoi, attached to Karinde Police Post, has been arrested after investigators identified him as the officer who fatally shot Dr Mutiso, while Police Constable Bett Kiplangat Collins of Thogoto Police Post has also been forensically placed at the scene but is still on the run.
Addressing the media, Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin termed the officers’ alleged involvement a betrayal of the public trust.
“The involvement of these rogue officers represents a grave betrayal of the uniform and the public trust. The Directorate will pursue them with the full force of the law,” Amin said.
Amin said the breakthrough followed an intensive forensic and intelligence-led investigation into the July 29 killing of the former Director of the African Institute of Mental and Brain Health, who was gunned down while travelling in an Uber to her office in Nairobi’s Upper Hill.
According to investigators, the Uber was intercepted after two Toyota Prado vehicles strategically blocked its path before a gunman fired several shots into the vehicle, fatally wounding Dr Mutiso. Although the driver rushed her to Kenyatta National Hospital, she succumbed to three gunshot wounds.
The DCI said investigations identified Daniel Mwangi Njoroge as the coordinator of the operation.
Detectives allege he hired the two Toyota Prado vehicles used in the ambush, facilitated the movement of the execution team and personally drove one of the vehicles that boxed in the victim’s car moments before the shooting.
Vehicle tracking data placed both Prados, registration numbers KDE 400W and KDH 600A, at the crime scene.
Kelvin Ngugi Kinuthia is alleged to have ferried the gunman to the scene on a motorcycle. Detectives said forensic evidence places him at the murder scene, while the motorcycle used during the operation has since been recovered.
Investigators later recovered a Mini Jericho pistol from the armoury at Nderi Police Post after inspecting the station’s firearms register.
Ballistic examinations confirmed that the weapon matched spent cartridges recovered at the scene and the bullet extracted from Dr Mutiso’s body during the post-mortem, conclusively linking it to the murder.
The DCI said the investigation has established that the killing was motivated by a long-running land dispute over property in Mlolongo.
According to detectives, Dr Mutiso had lodged a caveat over the land, which had become the subject of a case before the Environment and Land Court in Machakos.
Evidence gathered so far points to Rose Mbithe Mulwa formerly married to Dr Mutiso’s husband, Prof David Musyimi Ndetei and her son Christopher Mulwa as the alleged financiers and organisers of the murder.
The two are being held after investigators obtained court orders to detain them for 21 days pending completion of investigations.
The DCI also revealed that Dr Mutiso had survived an earlier assassination attempt on July 7 along Ngong Road when two men riding a motorcycle allegedly pointed a firearm at her. She escaped unharmed and reported the incident to police.
Amin said detectives are still pursuing additional suspects and are examining possible links between those implicated in Dr Mutiso’s murder and the 2025 drive-by killing of lawyer Kyalo Mbobu.
“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations will stop at nothing to ensure that justice is fully served. No one, regardless of status, uniform or influence, is above the law. Those who participated in this crime, those who supplied the weapon, those who financed it, those who coordinated it, and those who have attempted to obstruct or mislead investigators will be held to account,” Amin said.
