Unraveling the Mirema Shooting

A man who was shot dead in a city estate on Monday afternoon had expressed fear for his life. Family sources said Samuel Mugo Mugota, 39, who was shot six times in Mirema Drive, Kasarani Sub-county, by a lone gunman had intimated to his elder brother that his life could be cut short any time.

Detectives said the evidence they had gathered by yesterday cast Mugota as a highly secretive man.

They explained that not even a woman who claimed to have lived with him for 16 years seemed have a clear account of Mugota’s past or what he did for a living.

In her statement, Ms Wambui said her husband was a former police officer who sold electronics.

Detectives, however, disputed the claim, saying there were no known records of him in the service. Family sources further described Mugota as a teetotaller and “difficult man” who kept to himself.

“Three weeks ago, he called and told me that his life had hit a dead end. He did not reveal what was troubling him. I insisted that we discuss the issue on phone and not wait for a physical meeting. He said no. That is the last I heard from him,” Mr Timothy Wachira, his brother, recalled in a statement filed at Kasarani Police Station yesterday. 

It was further stated that Mugota’s other wife, who was identified as Ruth Kamene, lives in Githurai 44. She was yet to record a statement with the police by the time we went to press.

Ms Wambui told the Nation that on the day Mugota was gunned down, he had left home at 8am. 

It was, however, unclear to her what transpired between that time and some minutes to 2pm, when her husband was gunned down by a man who fled in a getaway vehicle.

In an interview at Kasarani Police Station, Ms Wambui told the Nation that any attempts to dig deeper into her husband’s life always led to a physical confrontation.

Detectives told the Nation Mugoti was a criminal who was most probably killed by his fellow gangsters over a business deal gone sour.

They said the evidence gathered from the murder scene indicated that he was killed by people who knew him well and who only wanted him dead.To back their execution theory, the detectives said nothing had been stolen from Mugota. A laptop, five mobile phones and nine ID cards were found inside the Honda CRV motor vehicle that he was driving. 

The detectives said their suspicion that Mugota was a criminal was lent credence by the fact that four of the owners of the identity cards found in the car Mugota was driving said they had lost the documents after their drinks were spiked in entertainment joints, after which their bank accounts were emptied.

Detectives revisited the murder scene and retrieved more CCTV footage to help in investigations.

“We have retrieved more CCTV footage from the neighbouring apartments,” Kasarani DCIO Vincent Kipkorir told the Nation.

The detectives disputed claims that Mugota was dropping a woman when he was attacked. They said the CCTV footage they had gathered did not show any woman getting off the vehicle.

CCTV camera footage shows Mugoti driving a Honda CRV registration number KBY 453R.

Shortly after, a man armed with a pistol sprays him with bullets at close range and escapes in a getaway vehicle.

The Nation established that the Honda CRV is registered as belonging to ICEA Lion General Insurance Company Ltd. National Transport and Safety Authority records show Mr Ambrose Mbugua Kirobi, an agronomist, as the previous owner of the car.

ICEA Head of Communications Nkatha Gitonga clarified that the car belonged to one of the company’s clients.

“It was involved in an accident in February 2021 and was written off. We paid the client for the write-off and the ownership was transferred back to us,” she explained, adding that the car was subsequently sold in a salvage auction in August 2021.

“Transferring the ownership is the responsibility of the buyer. To date, the vehicle’s ownership has not been transferred,” she added.

Mr Wachira said his brother would be buried this week in Nyahururu. The body is currently lying at the Kenyatta University Funeral Home.

But even as the family prepares to bury Mugota, a row is already brewing between his two wives, with the family insisting that they only know Ms Kamene as Mugota’s wife. This came amid claims that Ms Wambui had asked the police to provide her with the identification documents that they had found on the deceased.