Lawrence Simon Warunge and his girlfriend Sarah Muthoni who are being held on suspicion of the murder of 5 members of his family in Kiambaa were today arraigned before Kiambu Law Courts but were not allowed to plead to the offence.
The duo appeared before Kiambu Chief Magistrate Patricia Gichohi in a miscellaneous application in which the officer investigating the case sought to be given 14 days to complete his investigations.
pictures by- velma mukhwana
Inspector Peter Kamau attached to the Homicide Unit of the DCI in his affidavit detailed the preliminary investigations thus unraveling the events that led to the arrest of Lawrence as a prime suspect into the incident after a three-day manhunt.
He mentioned that after he confessed to the murders, he led them to a residence in Jikaze, Mai Mahiu area where they recovered the killer weapon- a kitchen knife, clothes and shoes
The officer told the court that the suspect had revealed to them that he had thrown the exhibits to a 20ft pit latrine where they were retrieved.
Detectives from the Homicide Unit visited the site in Mai Mahiu and collected the debris of burnt exhibits for analysis, and Inspector Kamau told the magistrate that he is yet to collect more that will aid them in the case.
His disappearance immediately after the grisly murder is what made investigators suspicious and after pursuing him, the signal to his phone was traced to Mai Mahiu in Naivasha. It was later traced to Thika and later to Kabete area on Friday., the court heard.
“We are still recovering more exhibits and we need more time to conclude the investigations. We also need to compare the DNA samples collected from the respondents to those found at the scene of the crime. He added that their investigations need to enable them to escort the suspect for mental assessment and also prior to charging them with the offence.
He also requested the court that the accused persons remain detained to avoid causing civil unrest given the gravity of the offence and also owing to the fact that after he went missing following the deaths, member of the public were not happy with him and could harm him .He added that among the prospective witnesses were 2 minors whose lives were in danger in case the first respondent was released.
After consideration, Ms. Gichohi allowed the police to remand Lawrence at Gigiri police station while Sarah will be remanded at Muthaiga police station.
The case will be mentioned on January 25th 2021.
By Lydia Shiloya and Velma Mukhwana
