The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Renson Ingonga, is under scrutiny for allegedly failing to act on recommendations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to charge Kennedy Kalombotole in connection with the death of Gilbert Kinyua, a patient admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital on February 6, 2025.
Reports indicate that the DCI had already conducted investigations into Kinyua’s death and established that Kalombotole was the prime suspect behind the murder at the hospital.
However, the ODPP failed to take action until another gruesome murder was reported at the facility, raising serious concerns about the competence of the prosecution.
A report by the DCI, dated June 30, 2025, details how Kinyua was murdered inside one of the hospital rooms on February 6, with the investigation identifying Kalombotole as the main suspect.
In their investigations, the detectives pieced together information from the hospital nurse who was on duty on the night Kinyua was murdered.
In her testimony, the nurse claimed that on the fateful night, she had administered medication to both the victim and the suspect. Upon returning the following morning, she noticed blood stains on Kinyua’s bed.
According to the investigation, Kalombotole was the victim’s bedmate at the time of the murder earlier this year. However, the suspect was never arrested, despite the probe placing him at the scene of the crime.
Despite the DCI’s recommendations, the suspect remained at the hospital, only for the latest investigations to link him to another murder at the facility that occurred on July 17 this year.
Kalombotole was arrested on July 18 as the prime suspect in connection with the brutal murder of Edward Maingi Ndegwa, a patient who was admitted to Ward 7B on July 11, 2025.
Initial reports indicate that a nurse checked on the patient on Thursday, July 17, at around 11:30 am and took his blood pressure. At 12:30 pm, a relative visited and found him stable before leaving the ward at 1:30 pm.
However, at around 2 pm the same day, a hospital cleaner making their rounds in the corridor noticed blood oozing from the patient’s neck.
Detectives were quickly alerted and, upon arrival at the scene, traced bloody slipper prints from the victim’s bedside to a nearby toilet and eventually to a side room, where the suspect was admitted.
In the room, investigators recovered a pair of blue slippers and a blood-stained bedsheet. During the investigation, they also found a knife wrapped in gloves.
Further investigations revealed that the suspect had been admitted to the facility on December 1, 2024, and is also linked to the murder of another patient at the same hospital.
