The High Court Wednesday January 29 declined an application by the prosecution to have Sarah Wairimu Kamotho Cohen be subjected to another mental assessment test before pleading to murder charges of her late husband, Tob Cohen.
Kibera Judge Diana Kavedza said Wairimu had undergone the same test in 2019 when she was arrested over the matter.
She said the Prosecution hasn’t provided any new material to prove that Sarah has developed any mental impairment after the 2019 test to subject her to another test.
She directed the 2019 mental report be tabled in court in the next 30 minutes prior to Wairimu pleading to the charges.
Two years ago, the prosecution asked a Nairobi court to withdraw the murder case against Wairimu and her co-accused, Peter Karanja.
This also followed an inquest that was initiated by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), following the death of Cohen, whose body was discovered in an underground water tank at his Nairobi home in September 2019.
The DPP’s decision to pursue an inquest came after murder charges against Wairimu, and businessman Peter Karanja were dropped in November 2022.
The charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence, which the DPP attributed to incomplete information and investigative shortcomings.
Wairimu filed a request to discontinue the inquest.
The DPP and Cohen’s family opposed the application and urged the court to proceed with a full hearing to establish the truth behind the murder.
Wairimu in 2020 claimed that Cohen was murdered and dumped in a septic tank at their home while she was in police custody.
She told court that the businessman was murdered by people who were well known, but were enjoying the protection of DCI officers.
The initial investigation had led to the arrest of Wairimu and Karanja, but with the murder charges dropped, the inquest became the primary avenue for seeking justice.
The DPP argued that the investigation was marred with contradictions and incomplete information, making it impossible to proceed with a successful prosecution in the murder trial at the High Court.
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