The husband of slain psychiatrist Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso has petitioned the High Court to deny bail to five people charged with her murder, alleging that their freedom could trigger intimidation and obstruction of witnesses.

Professor David Musyimi Ndetei, who filed an affidavit in court, said that he is prejudiced by the case and that he and Dr Mutiso had been threatened before her death. The professor further said the accused persons knew members of his family and potential witnesses.

Ndetei, who is said to have been previously married to the first accused, Rose Mbithe Mulwa, with whom he has two children, Chris Mulwa and Angela Mulwa, both of whom are also charged with Dr Mutiso’s murder, said that his wife’s murder was the culmination of threats that he and Dr Mutiso had received from the accused persons.

“I confirm that we were constantly threatened by the Accused persons and those threats eventually culminated in my wife’s death,” Ndetei said in his affidavit

The professor petitioned the court to deny bail to the five accused persons because they could intimidate and obstruct witnesses by contacting them after release.

“There are very many of them as I have intimate knowledge of my immediate family, relatives, friends, colleagues and those of Dr Mutiso whom the Accused persons can easily contact and approach to influence them to withhold evidence or give false evidence at the trial court,” Ndetei said.

Like the husband of the slain psychiatrist, the prosecution has also petitioned against the release of the five accused persons for various reasons, including fear that they would tamper with witnesses, destroy evidence, collude and abscond.

Court investigators have told the court that some witnesses are closely connected to the accused persons.

The State has petitioned the court to take into account the weighty reasons for denying bail to the accused persons despite the right to it enshrined in the Constitution. In addition to Rose Mbithe Mulwa, Chris Mulwa, Angela Mulwa, Police Constable Elijah Kibelion Kimoi and Maritim Kimutai, the five accused persons are all charged with murder.

They all stood their pleas of not guilty before Milimani High Court Justice Alexander Muteti on September 29, where the prosecution alleges that they were involved in the killing of Dr Mutiso that occurred on July 29, 2026, in Nairobi. However, these allegations have yet to be proven in court.

Police Constable Collins Bett Kiplangat and Pius Muiru Mbugua have since been charged with Dr Mutiso’s murder and they both stood their plea of not guilty on October 6. The prosecution is seeking to join the cases of the second set of two accused persons to the first five.

The prosecution is now petitioning against the bail of all seven accused persons, citing similar concerns to those of the husband of the deceased and witnesses. Court investigators have in the past told the court that the murder investigation is related to a long-drawn-out property dispute between Dr Mutiso, Ndetei and some of the accused persons over a 20-acre parcel of land in Mlolongo.

The DCI has alleged that Dr Mutiso was threatened before her death and that it is investigating whether the land dispute was the motive behind the killing. However, the accused persons have denied the murder charges and have raised several complaints about their treatment in custody. In addition, their lawyers have raised several concerns about the prosecution’s case.

Dr Mutiso was shot dead in Nairobi on July 29 while traveling in an Uber. The circumstances surrounding her death are currently before the court in an ongoing criminal case. The High Court will decide whether to grant bail to the accused persons despite the petition by the husband of the deceased, the prosecution and the victims’ representatives, who are challenging the right to liberty of the five accused persons based on the alleged risks they pose to the witnesses and the criminal case in general. The accused persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.