Five suspects charged with murder of lawyer Kyalo Mbobu/LEAH MUKANGAI

Five suspects, including a woman, her two children and two police officers, have been charged with the murder of lawyer Matthew Kyalo Mbobu.

The five appeared before the High Court in Kibera on Tuesday, where they denied the charges relating to the lawyer’s killing in September last year.

The accused are Rose Mbithe Mulwa, her children Chris Mulwa and Angela Mulwa, and police constables Julius Kipkoech Cheruiyot and Kennedy Kipkemei.

According to the charge sheet, the five are accused of jointly murdering Mbobu on September 29, 2025, at around 5.30 pm along Magadi Road, near Brookhouse International School in Karen, within Lang’ata Sub-County, Nairobi.

The charge states that they allegedly committed the offence jointly with another person who was not before the court.

During Tuesday’s proceedings, the court initially considered adjourning the plea-taking after noting that some of the accused appeared not to have legal representation.

However, the court was informed that the accused were represented, allowing the proceedings to continue and the murder charges to be read to them.

Following the plea-taking, defence lawyer Joel Mbaluka informed the court that Rose and her two children wished to make an oral application seeking release on bail.

However, Justice Diana Kavedza declined to entertain the oral submissions at that stage, citing another hearing scheduled before the court involving the murder case of multimedia student Sylvia Kemunto, in which five witnesses were expected to testify.

The court also heard from prosecution counsel Jalson Makori, who told the judge that the State was preparing to include new information in an affidavit opposing the accused persons’ release on bail.

Makori said the prosecution had prepared an affidavit opposing bail but had not filed it because it intended to incorporate additional information.

He further informed the court that another suspect had been at large before his arrest over the weekend.

"There is a suspect, Inspector Kennedy sang, he has been at large, and he was arrested over the weekend, and we intend to charge him together with the accused persons in court," he submitted.

The State consequently asked the court to defer the bail application as it finalised its position on the matter.

The defence’s request for bail therefore remained pending, with the prosecution seeking time to file its response.

Mbobu was killed on September 29, 2025, in an incident that led to investigations into his death.

The five accused persons have denied the charges against them.

The proceedings are expected to address the outstanding bail question and the prosecution’s intended application concerning the additional suspect.