Trouble seems to be sticking on High Court Judge Martin Muya like a leech. The judge, who is facing a tribunal over orders he gave in a case involving a businessman and NIC Bank, had been reported missing by his wife Haurellia Mbulwa on Monday.
Justice Muya, of the High Court in Bomet, went to have a tipple and had informed his family members that he was heading home.
TRIGGERED PANIC
It was the on the day Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i issued an order to close all bars for two days for the national census to be conducted that the judge, who has sent many people behind bars, found himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
A call from his wife triggered a series of events that almost made him lose his life, with bullets fired by police officers flying around him in what shocked and sobered him up. According to a police report, the judge told his wife he was heading home on Dennis Prit Road in Nairobi but by 4.30am, he had not turned up, triggering panic among his family members. They reported the matter at the Kilimani Police Station.
“He did not return home and his phones went unanswered, forcing the wife to report the matter at Kilimani Police Station,” states a police report.
It further states that before the matter was reported, the couple’s son, Mr Benjamin Mati, had monitored the judge’s vehicle and found it moving suspiciously from one point of the city to another.
Suspecting that the judge could have been involved in a carjacking, the family reported the matter to the police, who circulated the car’s registration details.
Later, the officers spotted the car in Kileleshwa.
“Police shot at the right tyre and deflated it, forcing the vehicle, which was in motion, to stop,” the police reported stated.
VERY DRUNK
It added: “On board was the judge, who was very drunk. He denied being carjacked. No one was injured during the incident. The vehicle was towed to Kilimani Police Station.”
Justice Muya excused himself from the bench two months ago, opting to take leave to focus on the petition before the tribunal. Kericho High Court Judge George Dullu has been holding brief in Bomet.
The incident shines a spotlight on Justice Muya, who is facing the tribunal over the petition filed by NIC Bank, the defendant in a case pitting it against Alfred Kipkorir Mutai and Kipsigis Stores Ltd.
“In the case (HCC NO 4 of 2016) the judge after numerous adjournments granted an injunction and reserved the reasons thereof for a period of five months,” said a statement released by the Judicial Service Commission when the announcement on forming the tribunal was made.
It further states: “This was in total disregard of the pleas by NIC that the motor vehicles, which had been given to it as security, were being sold, and were eventually sold; thus occasioning loss to the bank.”
The tribunal is also investigating Justice David Njagi Marete, and Justice Lucy Waithaka over a myriad of accusations facing them individually.
In 2003, Justice Muya was one of 83 magistrates removed from office in a Judiciary purge, but he was reinstated on appeal and later promoted to judge.
