A mother and her son were on Friday arraigned over the Wednesday cold blooded murder of Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso.
It is alleged the mother was former co-wife to the deceased.
Both mother and son will know their fate on August 3, 2026, when the court will determine whether to detain them for 30 days or not.
Ms Rose Mbithe Mulwa alias Rose Mbithe Ndetei and Mr Chris Mulwa, were presented before magistrate Geoffrey Onsaringo just two days after early morning killing of one of the country's top psychologists.
Ms Mulwa, who is eyeing the Machakos County governor seat, and her son-Chris Mulwa who is an advocate, will cool their heels in police custody awaiting the ruling on Monday.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on Friday urged the court to detain them for 30 days to enable detectives from the homicide department of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to finalise the probe into the killing.
Opposing the detention request, five defense lawyers - Katunga Mbuvi, Danstan Omari, Cliff Ombeta, Shadrack Wambui and Stanley Kinyanjui - argued that the arrest of Ms Mulwa and her son was politically influenced.
“Ms Mulwa has expressed intentions to run for a powerful seat in the political cross-section 2027, having run for Machakos governorship in 2022 where she garnered 4,424 votes,” Mr Omari told magistrate Onsaringo.
Ms Mulwa (an independent candidate) was send home by the sitting governor Ms Wavinya Ndeti who bagged 226,609 votes.
Ms Mulwa was defeated by Ms Ndeti with a margin 222,185 to be placed number five in the hotly contested seat.
Mr Omari urged the court to release them on bond pending investigation.
Prosecuting counsel urged the court to allow the police request and detain them for 30 days since the killing of the medic has elicited great public expression and interest.
Dr Mutiso, a former director of Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health was felled on July 29, 2026, by a gunman who had allegedly trailed her movements.
Before she met her death, she was being driven in a taxi within Upper Hill in Kilimani sub-county, Nairobi.
Prosecuting counsel told the magistrate that Dr Mutiso was murdered on July 29, 2026, within Upper Hill in Nairobi after being trailed and short by unknown gunmen while she was riding a a car registration number KDJ 609D.
The prosecution urged Mr Onsaringo to detain the two suspects in police custody for 30 days before the DPP can formerly charge them with murder.
It has since been revealed that the deceased, before her death, had reported two incidents of being allegedly threatened by Chris Mulwa, her step son and another time by an unidentified rider.
“On July 7, 2026, she was driving along Ngong Road when two men riding on a motorcycle tried to shoot her. Her husband (Dr David Musyimi Ndetei) identified the pillon passenger as the second respondent (Chris Mulwa),” police have stated in the court filings.
The magistrate heard that Ms Mbithe was divorced by Dr Ndetei, 25 years ago (2001) with whom they had four children, Chris Mulwa included.
Upon being arrested, police claimed they managed to recover crucial exhibits belonging to the slain top mental medic.
Pressing for the detention, the investigating team said they are apprehensive the suspects will interfere with prosecution witnesses “as they are well known to key prosecution witnesses who include members of the deceased family.”
The prosecuting counsel also told the court that the suspects are very close to individuals connected to the long standing land dispute between the deceased and Ms Rose Mbithe.
“Preliminary police investigations have pointed out that there was a land dispute which culminated to a civil suit pending at the Machakos High Court,” the court heard.
Police have since established that the deceased was named as the 3rd defendant in the Machakos case which was filed by Ms Mbithe.
The land is located at Mlolongo Weighbridge in Athi River sub-county in Machakos County.
Police have also discovered the land dispute ended up causing eviction and demolition of the deceased family properties soon after she started receiving death threats.
The magistrate heard the police believe the suspects possess information regarding the whereabouts and identities of the killers and “if released they are likely to communicate with them and facilitate their escape from justice and also conceal or destroy crucial evidence.”
Mr Onsaringo heard police are in the process of examining crucial forensic evidence and analysing CCTV footage, call data, vehicle information and recovered exhibits.
“The respondents are yet to be escorted for mental examination to determine whether they are fit to stand trial,” heard the court.
The investigating officer Corporal Roman Odour informed the court that postmortem on the body is yet to be conducted to establish cause of death besides compiling the investigations diary.
“Police have presented compelling reasons to warrant the detention of the mother and son for 30 days,” Mr Odour stated in a supporting sworn affidavit.
Praying for their release, Mr Ombeta said the duo had been in police custody for over 24 hours in violation of Article 49 of the Constitution which requires a suspects to be produced in court not later than 24 hours after arrest.
Mr Katunga stated the two are not a flight risk and will cooperate with investigators to ensure the truth is realised.
“You will remain police custody until August 3, 2026, when a decision will be rendered on the DPP's application for a 30-day detention period,” Mr Onsaringo ruled.
