Tob Cohen Murder: Court Allows Withdrawal of Murder Case Against Sarah Wairimu

The High Court has granted an application to withdraw murder charges against slain Dutch tycoon Tob Cohen’s widow Sarah Wairimu and her co-accused Peter Karanja.

Justice Daniel Ogembo ruled on Tuesday that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji is free to file an inquest, saying he was not convinced by the victim’s arguments against the application.

Through her lawyers, Cohen’s sister Gabriele Van Straten opposed the withdrawal of the case, arguing that the DPP failed to inform the family of his decision to drop the matter.

Haji wants the matter to be handled via inquest to enable the “contradictions that have affected the proceedings of this matter to be heard in detail by all parties.”

“In addition, this will provide an opportunity for parties to present any information that had not been explored substantially before the court,” the DPP said.

Wairimu and Karanja had been charged with murdering Cohen, who went missing on July 19th, 2019, before he was found dead about two months later on September 13th.

The decomposed body of Cohen, who had lived in Kenya for 32 years, was discovered in an underground tank at his lavish home in Nairobi’s Kitisuru estate. 

A postmortem revealed that the deceased suffered severe head trauma inflicted by a blunt object and succumbed to a blow to the right side of the head. 

A month before his death, Cohen had reportedly complained of harassment and denial of his conjugal rights by his estranged wife.

The 71-year-old was buried at the Jewish Cemetery in Nairobi on September 24th, 2019.