A suspect in the murder of businessman Kevin Omwenga has denied claims there was an altercation between him and the deceased saying his shooting was accidental. Robert Bodo recorded a statement on Sunday, August 23, saying he never intended to shoot Omwenga and that he had gone to collect a gun he had given him earlier in the day before it accidentally went off.
In a report by Citizen TV, Bodo said he and Omwenga were good friends and he never intended to kill the businessman. Bodo said he took the firearm from his boss Chris Obure’s office which is a few meters away from Omwenga’s apartment in Galana Suites.
The suspect, who is not a licensed firearm holder, had been working as a bodyguard for businessman Obure. He claimed he had taken the gun from Obure’s office on Friday, August 21, at 6 am as they were running errands with Omwenga before he gave it to the deceased in the evening.
The two are then reported to have gone to an entertainment joint along Argwins Kodhek road before they headed to Ngara where they then picked Omwenga’s female companion. They then returned to the deceased’s apartment.
They then returned to the deceased’s apartment. Bodo claimed that Omwenga wanted to use the gun for show-off purposes and when he wanted to go home, he picked him from the chair to his bedroom with the intention to ask him for the gun.
It is at that point that it went off, discharging one round of ammunition through the left side of his chest. However, according to detectives, the trajectory of the bullet head that is suspected to have pierced through Omwenga’s heart and hit the wall before falling on his bed ruled out the possibility of an accidental shooting.
Of concern to the detectives is how Obure got the gun and how it found its way to the crime scene given he had been declared unfit to hold a firearm following several cases of gun misuse. Detectives are also looking into Omwenga’s lifestyle after it emerged he had left his work as a manager at a motor bazaar in Lavington and was very broke at the time.
The deceased was so broke to the extent that he could not pay his electricity bill in March but two months later, he bought a series of high-end cars with a collective worth of over KSh 20 million.
Other persons of interest in the case include Omwenga’s female companion who is said to be of Tanzanian origin, the deceased’s brother, and the businessman’s employee. Others include the people who are said to have been partying at the businessman’s apartment which has since been sealed off as a crime scene.
Obure and Bodo are currently in custody and are expected to be arraigned on Monday, August 24, where police will make a miscellaneous application to hold them further until they conclude investigations.