Two people who had been charged with the murder of James Maina Karanja the Senior Auditor of Nakumatt Holdings Limited have been set free.
This is after high court ruled that the prosecution did not prove case against
Philip Manyura Maroko, a former senior accountant with Nakumatt and Dennison Mose Maroko.
The two were represented by Nairobi lawyer John Ogada. They were set free by Justice James Wakiaga at Milimani High Court in Nairobi after the court found that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against them beyond reasonable doubt.
The deceased James Maina Karanja, who was then a senior auditor at Nakumatt Headquarters along Mombasa Road, Nairobi, was on 7th May 2015 shot more than three times by a gunman who was carried on motor cycle and who fled the scene of crime. Mr Karanja who was driving on his way home from work died instantly. The accused persons were later arrested and charged with murder.
In his judgment, the judge stated that he agreed with the submissions of Mr Ogada that the circumstantial evidence tendered by the prosecution against Mr Phillip Manyura Maroko did not meet the legal threshold and that it was not proved that there was any motive by the accused to kill the deceased. The lawyer had also submitted that his client was not even at the scene of the crime and the police had failed to hold an identification parade.
In their case, the prosecution had alleged that Phillip Manyura Maroko who was also an accountant at Nakumatt Holdings had along with other staff paid the first accused Ezekiel Momanyi Onsongo, a policeman based at Lavington in Nairobi to kill the deceased. But the judge found no evidence that the accused paid Mr Onsongo to kill the deceased. Lawyer John Ogada had in his submissions, stated that his client was under no financial investigation by the deceased at Nakumatt Holdings Ltd as was suggested by the prosecution. There was therefore no motive proved against him
The court also found that Dennison Mose Maroko who is a motor cycle rider was not guilty as he had only been hired by the first accused Ezekiel Momanyi Onsongo, the gunman to take him to Mombasa Road where Onsongo shot the deceased. Ezekiel Momanyi Onsongo who was represented by advocate Mochere, was convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. He was however released immediately since he had already served the seven years while in remand.
