Kinoti unleashes pack after powerful private detective
Powerful, flamboyant, ruthless. For several years, controversial private investigator Jane Wawira Mugo has called the shots in the security arena, political circles and in government offices.
So powerful has she been, she would walk into a police station and allegedly order the release of suspects.
Those with who her path crossed quickly lived to regret, while those who danced to her tune were pampered and protected.
Moving around in a convoy of luxurious SUVs and guarded by dozens of muscle-men, Mugo’s claim to powerful connections, especially at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) with which she claimed to work closely, seemed legit.
Indeed, reports indicate the chief executive of Trimo Security Limited, a company accused of involvement in criminal, land fraud and dubious civil investigations, debt collection and busting cheating spouses, has been working closely with some senior police officers.
At one time, Mugo held a graduation ceremony of recruits from her investigations firm that was attended by then Deputy Inspector General of Police Grace Kaindi.
Skip hearing
Enter George Kinoti! In a surprise announcement yesterday that could see the hitherto untouchable Mugo’s life unravel, the no-nonsense DCI boss termed her a suspected serial outlaw wanted for various criminal activities including robbery with violence, impersonation and threatening to kill. Kinoti said Mugo is to be arrested “wherever she is found” following a warrant of arrest issued by the Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi, after she skipped a hearing.
In past interviews, Mugo has always depicted herself as a heroine who puts her life in line fighting criminals and other social misfits.
“My family has gone through unbelievable injustices and my choice of business was motivated by my wish to find justice for others,” she told a local daily.
But yesterday, Kinoti listed a number of cases and incidents she has been involved in, including on August 15 at New Muthaiga estate where she allegedly drew a pistol and threatened to kill man.
“We are talking about a (suspected) serial criminal who has been involved in robbery with violence, impersonation, extortion and threatening to kill. We are not dealing with an ordinary (suspected) criminal, but a person who has perfected the art for years,” Kinoti said.
In the August case, Ms Mugo is said to have accused the man of spying for a relative of the director of a company in which she had been contracted as a private eye. The matter is currently with the police under reference Criminal Register number CR141/325/2019.
The DCI said Mugo was in May 2015 charged with detaining Andrew Gaitho for hours in Baba Dogo, Nairobi, after forcing him to pay her Sh440,000.
Another complainant, Astel Ahmedali Shah, claimed Mugo posed as a police officer at around the same time she was also accused of abducting Nairobi lawyer Juliet Maingi by allegedly personating a DCI officer.
The then Nairobi DCI boss Nicholas Kamwende said Mugo was to be charged with abduction, impersonation and creating a disturbance. She, however, denied any wrongdoing, insisting the complainants were using their close ties with Kamwende to fight back.
The same year, 2015, she was accused of storming lawyer Gaitho’s office where she introduced herself as a police officer before searching the premises. Police claimed she created a disturbance with the case record number, CR141/187/2015.
Though the DCI said she had earlier been charged in court, records indicate that she has never been convicted of any of the alleged offences.
In the Baba Dogo case, the complainant, Gaitho, withdrew his complaint. The two other cases were also struck off after the complainants changed their minds, saying they were no longer interested in court proceedings.
Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Code allows the complainant, at any time before a final order is passed, to withdraw a complaint.
Ms Mugo’s name also featured this year in a fraud case in which a Russian national, Vladimir Borisenko, was conned of Sh22 million by clearing agents at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Her company, Trimo Security, had been hired to help recover the money and trace the suspects who had gone underground.
“Borisenko left the country because of his own safety. He claimed a police officer is among those people who threatened to kill him if he continued staying in the country. He advised us to conduct parallel investigations after losing faith in the police,” Mugo told the media early this year.
According to the company’s website, Mugo has served in various law enforcement agencies as an undercover agent. She also claims to have taken a “senior course” at the DCI, and has been working with the directorate as an undercover agent, a claim Kinoti dismissed as “a white lie”.
“Pure lies, and nothing near the truth. Why would we employ the services of private undercover investigators when we have competent officers?” Kinoti asked.
Mugo went to Karoti Girls High School in Kirinyaga where she was the head girl and claims to hold a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology from Kenyatta University.
