Suspect behind poisoning of Garissa MCA to remain in custody

A Garissa court has allowed police to hold a man suspected to be behind the poisoning of Garissa nominated MCA Queen Teresia for another seven days.

The suspect, Bernard Katana is to appear alongside another, Josphine Mbula, a house help alleged to have attempted to murder the MCA by mixing her prescribed syrup with liquid substance suspected to be poison on January 11.

The prosecution led by Victor Owuor Thursday urged the court to detain Katana for seven more days to allow the investigations to be completed.

Owuor added that Katana ‘is a flight risk and cannot be granted bail’ adding police are still pursuing a third suspect.

High Court Judge Cosmas Maundu granted the request and ordered that the suspect be detained at Madogo police station.

The prosecution told the court that the police intend to retrieve the accused’s communication data from Safaricom service provider in order to establish if he was at the scene of the incident or if he colluded with other suspects to commit the offense.

“The recovered suspected poisoned substances have been forwarded to government chemist in Nairobi for analysis and the results have not been received,” reads a police affidavit by Corporal Samson Ogembo.

Katana termed his arrest and prosecution as ‘political witch-hunt’ adding that it could be linked to being the leader of the Kamba community in Garissa.

The accused claimed that his life was in danger because they live in the same locality with the complainant. He further denied knowing Mbula.

The police intend to merge the case facing Mbula who has already been arraigned in court with that of Katana when the case comes up for mention on February 2nd.