State wants court to dismiss Wairimu's bid to drop murder charge

 

The state has opposed a bid by Sarah Wairimu to stop her prosecution for the alleged murder of her late husband Tob Cohen.

Wairimu moved to court in November last year and asked that the murder charges against her be dropped.

However, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations argued that the case filed by Wairimu is an abuse of the court process.

In court documents, the state says the petition raises matters that are subjudice to the case.

They also say that the  constitutional court has no jurisdiction to grant an order in a matter that is pending before the criminal division of the High Court, which is of concurrent jurisdiction.

The case was mentioned on Tuesday before Justice James Makau who said he will rule on whether he has jurisdiction to handle the case on March 11.

In her petition, Wairimu through lawyer Phillip Murgor argues that the case was lodged in bad faith.

She claims the prosecutor wants to deny her the right to inherit her matrimonial properties following the death of her husband.

Wairimu says that the investigative agencies and the police violated the Constitution in mounting the case against her and arresting her without a warrant.

She claims that the police confiscated her phones, accessed her private conversations, including privileged communication with her lawyers, breaching her right to privacy.

Murgor argues that the prosecution has not supplied the defence with evidence to enable them to prepare a substantive rebuttal in defending the accused.

Wairimu also wants the court to direct the state to release her vehicles, the house and its furnishings, as well as dogs Major and Snow.

Murgor says that the petition raises weighty constitutional questions that deserve to be heard and determined by a three-judge bench.