Deceased lawyer Calvin Musachi Ngaira 

The High Court will rule whether a lawyer has a case to answer in colleague’s murder.

The July 28 date was set after the prosecution led by Brenda Oduor closed its case against Eldoret lawyer Abel Mogaka following the testimony of 12 witnesses.

Mogaka was charged with murdering lawyer Calvin Ngaira on May 10, 2019.

He denied the charge and was released on a Sh1 million bond.

Justice Robert Wananda said he will decide on that date whether to put Mogaka on his defence or not.

Court hearings have been jammed by interested lawyers and human rights activists since the preliminary hearing began.

During the prosecution’s final presentation, the court was told how an altercation over a bottle of beer led to a vicious fight at a house party in which lawyer Ngaira was allegedly murdered by his colleague.

Mogaka allegedly used a broken beer bottle to fatally stab Ngaira in the neck. Roy Barasa, another lawyer, had hosted the party at his apartment for his friends, mostly lawyers.

Barasa had invited more than 10 lawyers who had studied together at the Kenya School of Law at his Sirtui apartment in Annex area along the Eldoret-Nakuru highway for a house party.

A commotion started inside the house and extended outside where Ngaira was stabbed.

DCI Inspector Sofia Ibrahim Hassan, based in Eldoret, produced CCTV footage of the incident and told the court the fight was over a bottle of beer that the accused is said to have served to his cousin, who had accompanied him to the party.

Inspector Hassan said Ngaira demanded to know who gave Mogaka permission to serve the beer to his cousin, who it later emerged, was not a lawyer, like most guests.

“The differences over the bottle of beer escalated, leading to the fight at the party,” Hassan testified.

Ngaira, who had practiced law for barely three months, died of his injuries at Mediheal Hospital.

"I went to the scene and interrogated witnesses,” she said. “The deceased is said to have demanded to know from his colleague who gave him permission to give his cousin a bottle of beer.”

The court heard that Mogaka, who was holding a glass of beer in his right hand, stormed out of the house party as Ngaira followed him and attacked him with kicks and blows. The assault was captured on CCTV footage played in court.

Mogaka was followed out by six people, including his cousin who was armed with a rungu, as the fight escalated.

It was during the fight outside the house that Ngaira was allegedly stabbed.

Inspector Hassan said she retrieved from the scene a blood-stained white and black t-shirt belonging to Ngaira and broken pieces of a glass, which are being used as prosecution exhibits.

Key prosecution witnesses included senior crime investigator, Inspector Daniel Kieni from DCI’s Nairobi headquarters, and former Moi University student Edith Chebet.

Chebet testified that she witnessed the incident as it unfolded. She had been invited by a friend.

She said the accused aimed the glass at Ngaira’s neck, leaving him bleeding profusely. 

The court heard that after allegedly stabbing the victim in the neck, Mogaka dropped the broken glass on the ground.

"I even took photos of the pieces of glass using my mobile phone. We had tried to separate the two before things got worse," Chebet said.

In his evidence, Inspector Kieni displayed 13 clips from four CCTV cameras, showing how the deceased lawyer was fatally stabbed in the neck by the accused.

The clips were played one after the other, showing Ngaira entering the Sirtui apartments where the party was held and how an altercation and violence arose.

“The deceased is seen throwing kicks at the accused, who tries to evade by moving back,” the DCI inspector said.

“However, none of the kicks land on him. Friends who were in the house also ran out and made attempts to stop the fight but it was during the commotion that the deceased was stabbed.”