Juma: 10 hard questions for the police to solve

Two spent cartridges were on Tuesday found buried at the scene where controversial businessman Jacob Juma was killed on Thursday night, raising more questions about his killing and the conduct of investigations.

Police used a special metal detector to find the cartridges as a preliminary post-mortem report showed the political activist was killed by two bullets to his chest, fired from close range.

Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Ndegwa Muhoro said the cartridges were from an AK-47 rifle.

“They are being analysed to establish if the weapon had been used elsewhere,” he said.

Detectives from the DCI homicide unit who recovered the cartridges immediately towed Mr Juma’s vehicle from the Karen Police Station to their headquarters on Kiambu Road.

Early reports had indicated that Mr Juma was shot several times at close range.

An examination of the body showed that he was shot from the front and that at least two fatal bullets exited through the back.

However, it was not clear if these bullets have been found at the scene of the crime and none appears to be lodged in the backrest of the driver’s seat.

The earlier theory that Mr Juma was hurriedly shot in a random, quick-fire, drive-by shooting at the scene is not supported by the injuries he suffered.

BULLETPROOF WINDOWS

It may well be that he was killed at the scene — some 10 metres or so off Karen Road at the inter-change near Lenana School — but an examination of early photos of his vehicle and the scene tend to support the notion that a determined effort was made to kill the brash millionaire.

A likely scenario is that a vehicle blocked Mr Juma before he swerved, veered off the road and ended up in a ditch on the roadside where his vehicle was found.

Photos of Mr Juma’s car show that the Mercedes Benz S320 resisted a volley of shots on the windscreen, giving credence to initial information, and Mr Juma’s own earlier assertions, that his car was bulletproof.

After attempting to shoot through the windows, the attackers seem to have resorted to using a pick-axe, or a similar sharp object, to pierce the windscreen without much success.

A similar assault seems to have been significantly resisted by the driver’s window, albeit with holes.

The right rear passenger window was shattered and the businessman could have been shot through there.

However, the killer shots could only have been inflicted on his chest if he had turned in his seat to face his attackers.

The attackers may also have shot the businessman through other small openings made with a pick axe-type object.

Mr Juma, a licensed small arms owner, was probably armed at the time of the attack, but his bulletproof windows would have protected his attackers as much as they protected him.

He could also have been sure that his car would protect him from the assailants and did not make determined efforts to drive out of the ditch or merely panicked when the shooting started.

In essence, then, the controversial businessman had, in the blink of an eye, transitioned from being one of the most protected and secure motorists in Nairobi, to a sitting duck.

Death came in the form of multiple rifle shots, which shattered his arm and collapsed his chest.

The wounds in his right hand indicate that it was hit several times.

There were blood stains on the roof of the car, as well as on the steering wheel, the dashboard, the front passenger seat and the centre console.

“The hand could have been injured when the attackers were smashing the driver’s and the rear right windows,” a senior officer familiar with the investigations said on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

The scope of the investigations has also been widened to include a review of some files that were pending under investigations in which the deceased was either a complainant or was adversely mentioned.

AT A GLANCE

10 unanswered questions

1.What was the motive for what is clearly the murder of a controversial businessman?

2.Who had the opportunity and means — in this case control of what appears to be a determined bunch of assassins — to commit the crime?

3.Was Mr Juma killed at the scene? If he wasn’t, where was he killed?

4.If Mr Juma was shot inside the car at close range, where are the bullets? If by some means he was shot through the windscreen, why is the backrest undamaged?

5.Whom did Mr Juma communicate with on his two mobile phones and what is their story? What does the data on his phones say about his movements?

6.Was the car bulletproof as claimed?

7.Have witnesses at the scene helped to build a profile of the attackers?

8.Did the first responders move the body? What does the position of the body tell investigators about the direction of attack?

9.Why was the car towed to Karen Police Station with the body still inside? And why did officers fail to secure the scene of crime?

10.Why were only two cartridges recovered if multiple shots were fired? What do the ballistics say about the attack and the attackers?