Sarah Wairimu says Cohen did not owe any Kiambu politician money

Sarah Wairimu says Cohen did not owe any Kiambu politician money:  Slain tycoon Tob Cohen’s widow Sarah Wairimu has denied claims that her husband owed over Sh35 million to two Kiambu politicians.

In an affidavit filed in court, Wairimu says that she was not aware that her late husband owed anyone such colossal amounts, let alone any Kiambu politicians.

She said she learnt through the media of the said allegations after the opening of  Cohen’s will.

“I further learnt that the will opening ceremony was attended by a politician, one Patrick Muiruri and that two Kiambu politicians were claiming to be owed a sum of Sh35 Million by my late husband” reads the affidavit.

The embattled widow also says that she read in several newspapers and found out that she had not been given anything in Cohen’s will.

She claims that Gabriele Van Straten and her brother Benard Cohen will be filing for probate to execute the alleged Cohen will.

Wairimu argued that she will need to be freed on bail to enable her to fight for her rights as a widow and co-owner of their matrimonial property among other things.

In the affidavit, Wairimu argues that there are no compelling reasons she should be denied bail as no evidence has been presented in court to support a murder charge.

She has accused her in-laws of conspiring to make sure that she is denied bail by the court.

“I am surprised and shocked that my late husband’s sister Gabriele Van Straten together with lawyer Chege Kirundi, would insist on opening the will while my late husband had not yet been buried and while I was in custody,” she argues.

Wairimu further argues that the only motive is to unconstitutionally deprive her of the rights to her matrimonial property and inheritance.

She alleges that DCI George Kinoti is determined to hand over the keys to her home to the purported beneficiaries of the will without going through the due process.

“After the opening of my late husband’s will, Gabriele and her husband had no further use for my husband and promptly left the country despite publicly stating that they wanted to accord him a decent Jewish burial,” she claims.

This affidavit will be heard in court after she takes a plea and formally makes her bail application.

Wairimu was arraigned yesterday before Justice Stella Mutuku but she did not plead to the charges as her representation by Phillip Murgor was questioned.

It was claimed that Murgor is still a public prosecutor and cannot represent Wairimu.

Lawyer Cliff Ombeta who represents Cohen’s family in the case objected to Murgor being a defence lawyer as he is still a state officer.

Ombeta said that Murgor was appointed as a public prosecutor by DPP Noordin Haji in January 2019 for two years which are yet to lapse.

He argued that as a public prosecutor Murgor cannot represent Wairimu because it will be a conflict of interest in the matter.

“My lady, can he work for the state and the defence at the same time?” he asked.

It was also his argument that the former DPP was not qualified to be in the matter.

Ombeta further argued that a letter of resignation cannot revoke a gazette notice because as it stands now Murgor is still an official of the DPP.

He also told the court that the representation in a murder case is crucial and they have to make sure that Wairimu is properly represented.

In response, Murgor laughed off the allegations by Ombeta saying that he resigned in March.

The court heard that he was appointed through a gazette notice in January but after wasting two months of his professional career, he decided to resign.

Murgor told the court that he was no longer under Haji’s office and he cannot be forced to work there.

“My lady, I will not read contents of the resignation out of respect for Noordin Haji,” he added.

He further said that when a person resigns that’s the end of everything including the gazette notice.

Assistant DPP Catherine Mwaniki told the court that she has to confirm if the gazette notice was revoked or not.

Mwaniki asked the court to defer the plea to next week until she clarifies the situation.

However, Wairimu’s speech at Cohen’s burial could land her in hot soup if the court finds that she disobeyed Judge Jessie Lessit’s order.

Justice Lessit on September 16 barred all parties in the case from addressing the media on issues relating to the murder case.

Mwaniki has accused Wairimu of contempt of court alongside her lawyer and asked the court to punish them for disobeying a court order.

She told the court that Wairimu threatened her co-conspirators at the burial and she has witnesses who were present and can testify.

“My lady, we have video evidence showing the accused and her lawyers addressing mourners and the video has been doing rounds on social media,” she said.

Murgor dismissed the allegations by the prosecution arguing that they are very serious and need a proper application.

He accused Mwaniki of lying saying no one at the said burial breached the court order because no investigations were discussed.

“What Sarah did was a normal thing for a widow who was mourning her husband and no lines were crossed at the burial,” Murgor said.

Murgor claimed that it’s the DCI himself and some state counsels who were giving out interviews and tweeting about the murder case.

He said George Kinoti has been talking to media especially, the Dutch papers.

The case will be mentioned on October 1, when the court will rule on whether  Wairimu disobeyed a court order and if Murgor will continue to represent her.

BY ANNETTE WAMBULWA

Source-the-star.co.ke