The taxi driver who was hired by gunmen believed to have been behind the assassination of former Kabete MP George Muchai has opened up about his encounter.
Speaking to TV47 on Saturday, September 11, the driver, whose identity has been hidden, noted that he received a call on the fateful night in February 2015, 30 minutes after his shift had lapsed.
He met one of the suspects at a petrol station in Kangemi, along Waiyaki Way, a client he had ferried along the busy highway several times.
The suspect was heading to Kikuyu but when the two arrived at Kabete, the man removed a loaded pistol and casually laid it down next to him.
"When we got to Kabete Police Station, he got the pistol from his back, corked it and placed it next to him. That was when I asked him what was happening and he told me not to worry," stated the driver.
A few kilometres later, at Muguga along the highway, another client, equally armed, boarded the car while wearing a face mask.
According to the driver, the masked man was coordinating communication with his accomplices to ensure that all finger prints had been wiped clean.
"The man with the hood is the one who continued communicating asking the rest if they had wiped everything clean and had tied the suspects properly as well as ensuring that no fingerprints would be retraced," he added.
The taximan further indicated that three more suspects would board the car before it made an about-turn towards Nairobi. Some individuals alighted at Mountain View while the rest got off at Kangemi.
The incident occurred just minutes after the fatal shooting that claimed the lives of the MP, his two bodyguards and their driver at the Moi Avenue - Kenyatta Avenue junction.
As the case progressed, the taxi driver, who is now living in a hideout, was placed under the witness protection programme before his name was struck off a few years later.
When he found a safety pin left behind by the gang later that night, he reported the matter to the police who swung into action immediately.
Another taxi driver, David Njuguna, who operated the vehicle during the day, was killed.
Seven suspects have since been charged with the murder of the four individuals with a case against five of them ongoing.
The suspects included Erick Isabwa alias chairman, Raphael Gathii alias Kim, Mustapha Anyonyi alias Musto, Stephen Lipapo alias Chokore, Jane Kamau alias Shiro, Margaret Wachuiri and Simon Gichamba are also accused of killing Muchai's driver Stephen Wambugu and bodyguards Samuel Kalikia and Samuel Matanta.
The four who were killed were in a vehicle ahead of another car that was carrying the deceased's family members that included his wife and daughter.
A relative, at the time, disclosed that the MP's vehicle had arrived at a roundabout when he was accosted by gun-wielding assailants who shot at them in the wee hours of the morning.
"They just started spraying it with bullets. When we saw that, our driver sped past the other car and when we came back to the scene a few minutes later, all the occupants of the vehicle were dead," the relative stated.
A newspaper vendor who witnessed the incident also corroborated the story indicating that one of the gunmen wore a mask.
