Police are reviewing CCTV footage that captured the last moments of a lawyer who has been missing for more than a week now.
The family of Benson Njau Kayai had reported to police he had been missing since February 7 when he was apparently abducted from along Muhoho Avenue in South C, Nairobi.
Njau, 54 is a Nairobi based lawyer and practiced conveyancing, property law, family law, commercial law, and other issues.
He was taken away by a car whose number plates are yet to be disclosed.
According to witnesses, the incident happened at about 5.30 pm as Njau drove in a hired salon car.
He had left his house in South C for an unknown destination when he was blocked by two cars and later removed to another one that was waiting.
He did not seem to resist the abduction, those who have viewed the footage say.
“According to the CCTV footage he was blocked by two cars from the front and rear sides before he was taken out and later frog marched to the waiting one. There was no resistance,” said an officer aware of the probe.
The team at Langata Directorate of Criminal Investigations said they are yet to establish the motive of the incident. The family is yet to be contacted for a ransom or any demand.
His family wants the police to find him. They say they do not know why he was taken away and by who.
Among those who witnessed the incident were bodaboda riders who told police they thought he was a suspect who was being arrested.
The owner of the car that Njau had leased has been questioned and explained their agreement.
Njau had a Mercedes Benz which he did not use that day. It was parked at his house. His house was also intact when the family and police visited there.
Lang’ata police boss Benjamin Mwanthi said a case was reported to them of a car that had been abandoned on the road and it was later taken to the local police station.
“We are yet to know the motive of the incident but detectives are on it,” he said.
He said they found bread and milk in the car. The family has since put out a poster on him missing and sought public help to find him.
His son Nick told journalists he was on the phone with his father on the day he was abducted and he wanted to know the status of a shop they ran.
His phone, however, went unanswered an hour later and has since then gone off.
Police said they are yet to locate his whereabouts.
In 2019, Njau was ordered by a court to return the Sh20 million he had apparently stolen from a client. The family said the matter had been settled.
In the case, Njau was charged with stealing the money from Stephen Muchina on December 2, 2016, in Nairobi.
The charge sheet said Njau, Muchina’s lawyer, stole the money entrusted to him to paying Geoffrey Gitau for the sale of a plot in Ruiru municipality.
The court issued the order after Njau failed to repay the money after two years.
The lawyer had requested the court to grant him more time to settle the matter out of court.