Former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner PC Davis Chelogoi’s Lawyers Cite “Secret Hearing” in a Complainant letter to CJ.
They have have filed a complaint to the Chief Justice Martha Koome against Magistrate Lucas Onyina alleging a secret court hearing that was held without their knowledge, violating their client’s constitutional rights.
In a letter dated January 22, 2026, J.Harrison Kinyanjui and Co. Advocates presented a different narrative from the one put forth by the second accused’s legal team just a day earlier.
The letter claims that on January 22,2026 counsel for the second accused, Andrew Kirungu Aseri,had “mysteriously and secretly” mentioned the case before Chief Magistrate Hon. Lucas Onyina without notifying the first accused nor his legal representation
The defence argued that this hearing was held a day after a similar mention was held on January 21, before Magistrate Rose Ndobi where all parties, by consent, agreed to adjourn the case to March 26, 2026, for the typing of proceedings.
The lawyers argued that the secret hearing had breached a binding consent order and amounted to “forum shopping.” They believed that the aim was to illegally steer the case back to Magistrate Dolphina Alego.
Chelogoi had earlier sought to have Alego recuse herself in an application made to the High Court. The court had directed that application be heard before the trial magistrate, but her subsequent transfer from the Nairobi station on 12 January 2025 rendered the issue void eventually resulting to it being withdrawn by consent
“This casts a dark shadow on the conduct of the said proceedings, in breach of the judicial precept that justice must not only be done, but SEEN to be done,” the letter states.
They insisted that there was “NO emergency” to justify reviving the transferred magistrate’s involvement.
As a result the defence has formally opposed a newly scheduled mention for 28 January 2026.”We hereby register our formal OPPOSITION to this matter being conducted in such secrecy/opaqueness to the exclusion of the 1st Accused,” the lawyers wrote.
