Chief Justice Martha Koome has announced that Makadara Principal Magistrate Monica Kivuti has died at Nairobi Hospital, where she was transferred for special care from Metropolitan Hospital.
According to the CJ, she succumbed to injuries sustained from a shooting incident involving a Senior Police officer on Thursday.
"I wish to confirm to the Nation that Hon. Monica Kivuti, Principal Magistrate, Makadara Law Courts, has lost the fight against the extensive injuries sustained during an open gun attack in Court,” the CJ said.
"The Judiciary family stands in solidarity during this deeply traumatic time and calls for sensitivity and compassion as we share in grief. May Hon. Kivuti’s soul rest in eternal peace.”
Kivuti was shot on Thursday afternoon in the leg and chest at the Makadara Law Court after she made a ruling in a case involving a policeman's wife.
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The judiciary said the magistrate had "cancelled the bond for an accused person who had jumped bond and had failed to offer satisfactory explanations for jumping bond."
"Immediately this decision was pronounced, a person shot at the magistrate and injured her on the hip,” it said in a statement.
The officer, identified as Chief Inspector Samson Kipchirchir Kipruto, who was in charge of a police station in Londiani in Kisumu, pulled out a gun and shot the magistrate, injuring her.
Other officers in court responded immediately, with one of them shooting the offending policeman and killing him.
In the process, three other officers were injured, a police report said.
Kipruto had traveled from his workstation in Londiani to attend a court case where his ailing wife Jenniffer Wairimu, 48 years was an accused person.
In the case, she is accused of obtaining money by pretense amounting to Kes 2.9 million.
The woman had pleaded to be released on cash bail, but the magistrate turned down the plea after she absconded court sessions over sickness.
A warrant of arrest was issued against her.
When she appeared on Thursday, June 13, her bail terms were canceled, and the magistrate ordered her remand at the Lang'ata Women’s Prisons.
This angered Kipruto, who sneaked into the court through the magistrate's door and fired shots toward Kivuti, injuring her on the chest and left hip.
Operations at the court were suspended Friday following the shooting.
The Judiciary said psycho-social counseling and support had been commenced for judicial officers and staff stationed at Makadara Law Courts.
