8 Bullets, Who Wanted Lawyer Kyalo Mbobu to Die A Painful Death? Detectives Pursue Two Motives

The evening of September 10, 2025, was supposed to be just another routine drive home for prominent Nairobi lawyer Kyalo Mbobu.

Instead, it became his final journey, marked by the thunderous crack of gunfire that would echo through Kenya’s legal corridors and send shockwaves through the country’s justice system.

As Mbobu navigated the familiar stretch of Magadi Road in Karen, heading to his residence after a day’s work, two assailants on a motorbike appeared from nowhere.

What followed was not a hurried robbery attempt or a crime of passion, but a calculated execution that investigators now describe as a methodical assassination.

Eight bullets tore through the 63-year-old lawyer’s body, with such precision and brutality that Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor painted a grim picture during the postmortem examination.

The shots weren’t random spray-and-pray tactics of amateur criminals.

Two bullets lodged deep in Mbobu’s chest below his arm, while others created devastating entry and exit wounds. His spine was shattered, his neck severely injured, all inflicted at close range with surgical precision.

“His spine was severely injured, and most of the bullets had entry and exit points apart from the two we recovered lodged in his chest below the arm,” Dr. Oduor revealed, his clinical description barely masking the savage nature of the attack.

The lawyer died from excessive bleeding, his life ebbing away on the tarmac as his killers disappeared into Nairobi’s sprawling traffic.

The methodical nature of the killing has convinced investigators that this was no ordinary crime. A senior detective familiar with the probe told the Daily Nation that the execution bore all the hallmarks of a premeditated hit.

“It’s clear that the killers took time to plan and even conducted surveillance on the lawyer. This can’t be a robbery incident,” the investigator revealed, speaking on condition of anonymity.

This assessment has led the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to pursue two distinct theories about why someone wanted Mbobu dead.

The first centers on a business deal gone catastrophically wrong, the kind of high-stakes transaction that can turn partnerships into blood feuds when millions are at stake.

The second theory delves into Mbobu’s extensive legal practice, spanning 37 years of representing clients in cases that may have made him powerful enemies.

The urgency surrounding the case became apparent when Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga issued an unusual directive, giving detectives just seven days to fast-track their investigations and submit their findings.

This timeline suggests either extraordinary confidence in the leads or mounting pressure from high places to solve a case that has captured national attention.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, speaking from Migori on Thursday, revealed that persons of interest have already been identified, though he remained tight-lipped about their identities.

His personal connection to the case adds another layer of complexity. Murkomen described Mbobu as both his teacher and friend, someone with whom he had worked closely.

“It is regrettable to assassinate a prominent person,” he said, his words carrying the weight of both official duty and personal loss.

The investigation has mobilized an impressive array of Kenya’s elite law enforcement units.

Three special teams have been formed under the leadership of Lang’ata DCI, supported by officers from the Homicide Bureau, the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau, and the elite Operations Support Unit. Nairobi DCI boss Benson Kasyoki has been personally overseeing the probe, chairing multiple strategy meetings as his teams pursue every lead.

Land dispute 

But perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the case lies in Mbobu’s recent legal work.

The lawyer was representing Benjoh Amalgamated Limited in a high-profile commercial dispute with Kenya Commercial Bank.

The case involves Muiri Coffee Estate, a 443-acre property in Kiambu County, and centers on the sale of this valuable asset over an unpaid loan.

What makes this case particularly sensitive is that Benjoh is owned by Captain (retired) Kung’u Muigai, a relative of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Such connections inevitably raise questions about whether Mbobu’s death was linked to this case or other equally sensitive legal matters he may have been handling.

His brother and family spokesperson, James Maluki Mbobu, insists that Kyalo never disclosed any contentious issues he was dealing with professionally.

“We have not received any information from anybody as to what could have led to his being attacked while alone in his car, driving home after the day’s work,” Maluki said, his voice reflecting the family’s bewilderment and pain.

The family’s anguish is palpable.

They describe a man who was peace-loving and soft-spoken, someone who wasn’t combative but was deeply committed to justice.

Yet someone, somewhere, decided that this 63-year-old lawyer posed such a threat that he needed to die, and die painfully, riddled with eight bullets on a Nairobi street.

As Kenya grapples with yet another high-profile killing in a country where many such cases remain unsolved, Murkomen has promised that this investigation will be different.

He has assured all families who have lost loved ones to crime that justice will be pursued, warning that criminal gangs are becoming a serious threat to national security.

The lawyer’s burial is scheduled for Wednesday, September 17, at his Mua Hills home, where family, friends, and members of the legal fraternity will gather to mourn a man whose life was cut short by forces that remain in the shadows.

As they lower his coffin into the earth, the questions will linger: who wanted Kyalo Mbobu dead, and why did they want him to suffer?

The answers may determine not just the fate of his killers, but the future of justice in a country where the rule of law hangs in the balance, one bullet at a time.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​