Two years ago, Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti revealed that they wanted to charge Court of Appeal Judge Sankale Ole Kantai with murder in the murder trial of Dutch businessman Tob Cohen.
This is after the DCI sleuths uncovered the judge’s communication with Tob’s widow, Sarah Cohen.
“We are charging him with murder. We have established a prema facie case and we are sure it can stand in court,” Kinoti told Daily Nation.
“For a murder charge, what to look for is whether there is a motive and in this case, there was a motive by the judge,” he added.
The DCI found Kantai having a case to answer after unearthing a trail of intimate text messages between the judge and Sarah Cohen, a key suspect in the murder case. In the texts, the DCI said Sarah could refer to Kantai as ‘love”.
The investigators also established that Kantai had paid for Sarah’s plane ticket from Nairobi to join him in Kisumu in what is suspected to have been an escapade during which they spent a night in room 405 at the Acacia Primier Hotel.
In an application, Kantai’s driver Jackson Lutoma Masista revealed that the judge might have not just had escapades with Sarah Cohen alone but also several other unknown women.
According to the affidavit filed in the case where Kantai is challenging his prosecution over Cohen’s murder, Lutoma recalled his memorable experience while working with the judge.
He revealed Kantai’s numerous interactions and escapades with several women including the married one.
Lutoma, who was Kantai’s driver for three years, told the court that during his time with the accused, he was tasked with picking and dropping female acquittances whom the judge never formally introduced to him.
“Though l cannot vividly recall the dates and specific times. I recall that at some point, we spent three nights out with the judge and his female acquittance at Amboseli National Park,” Lutoma said.
He also revealed another occasion where he drove Justice Sankale and another different woman to Panari Hotel in Nyahururu where they spent two nights.
“I verily recall my last experience with the judge and another woman from Migori county whom l picked from Queen Barclays Bank in Nairobi and dropped her and the judge to Migori. As we travelled to Migori, they were exchanging pleasantries from the back seat,” he told the court.
Adding: “On arrival at the lady’s home in Migori county the judge and the lady proceeded inside the house. After a while, l was informed that there was a group of individuals outside the house who wanted to ambush the judge accusing him of sleeping with another man’s wife.”
He told the court that it was him who rescued Judge Kantai from the angry crowd who wanted to lynch him.