Mystery woman, Uganda link and the phone trail in Victoria Mutiso murder

The woman, whose identity police have kept hidden, and Stephen Karanja Gathoni have joined the list of suspects in Dr Mutiso’s killing.

Phone data analysed by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers indicates that on June 18, Mr Mbugua was travelling from Nairobi towards Busia, while the woman stayed put at the border town.

Later that day, Mr Mbugua and the woman met in Busia, and then crossed into Uganda.

Their journey stopped in Kira Municipality, approximately 17 kilometres from Kampala City.

Kira, known for years as Kampala’s dormitory on account of housing thousands of people working in Uganda’s capital city, has a diverse mix of urban centres cutting across different sectors.

Residential estates in Kyanja and Najjera targeting the middle-to-upper-middle class bracket, an industrial belt in Bweyogerere offering jobs to thousands, roadside bars and pork joints for entertainment and, of course, Namugongo’s world-famous Uganda Martyrs Shrine all form part of Kira Municipality.

For six days, Mr Mbugua and the woman slept in a short-stay apartment in Kyanja, which had been booked by another Kenyan national, Stephen Karanja Gathoni.

They moved around different parts of Kira.

While at Kyanja Heights Apartments, the two used their Kenyan sim cards to make calls to several people in and around Nairobi.

Among the people they called were police officers Collins Kiplangat Bett and Elijah Kibellion Kimoi and Kenneth Kipkemboi Sang.

Mr Sang allegedly acted as the go-between for Dr Mutiso’s financiers and the assassins. The DCI has also alleged that he, as officer in charge of Nderi police post, supplied the Jericho pistol used to kill Dr Mutiso. Mr Sang is still on the run.

They returned to Kenya on June 24.

Exactly two weeks after their return, Dr Mutiso reported a threat to her life at Kilimani police station after two armed men on a motorcycle allegedly confronted her near Junction Mall along Ngong Road.

Barely 22 days after reporting that threat to her life, Dr Mutiso was in an Uber being driven along Mawensi Road in Upper Hill. A black Toyota Prado abruptly braked in front of the Uber, as a motorcycle stopped right next to the taxi.

A pillion passenger on the motorcycle shot Dr Mutiso dead.

Police investigations involving Kenyan and Ugandan police, working with Interpol, have now pointed to all those incidents being connected.

On August 2, Mr Bett, a constable based at Thogoto police station, travelled to Uganda in the company of Mr Mbugua. Mr Bett did not apply for leave, indicating that he hurriedly left the country.

The two neither used travel documents nor passed through immigration offices when crossing the border, something they admitted in a Kampala court on Tuesday just moments before being convicted for being in Uganda illegally.

The two pitched camp at a unit in Kyanja Heights Apartments, where Mr Mbugua had stayed in June.

Once again, Stephen Karanja Gathoni entered the frame by booking the unit for Mr Bett and Mr Mbugua.

An investigator told the Nation that suspects earlier arrested revealed that each conspirator in Dr Mutiso’s murder was paid Sh300,000 and that Mr Bett and Mr Mbugua converted a similar amount into Uganda Shillings after crossing the border.

An undisclosed amount of money was recovered when a team of Kenyan and Ugandan police officers working with Interpol officers arrested Mr Bett and Mr Mbugua in Kampala last Saturday.

At this point, police investigations were just starting, hence there were no formal suspects. Dr Mutiso’s family was still coming to terms with the assassination, as they awaited a post-mortem examination and started making burial plans.

In Uganda’s Kira municipality, Mr Bett and Mr Mbugua used new SIM cards to call several people in Kenya. Mr Bett called some police officers while both of them called friends and family.

During the Saturday arrests, police found several SIM cards in the apartment.

Mr Gathoni was arrested in Nairobi and shipped to Kampala to face trial over entering and being in Uganda illegally when allegedly facilitating accommodation for Mr Bett and Mr Mbugua.

Those arrested over Dr Mutiso’s murder so far are Mr Bett, Mr Mbugua, Mr Gathoni, Daniel Mwangi Njoroge, Kevin Ngugu Kinuthia and police constable Elijah Kibellion Kimoi, who is believed to have pulled the trigger.

Others are Rose Mbithe Mulwa alias Rose Mbith Ndetei and her children Angela Mulwa and Chris Mulwa.

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