Police have arrested a Nyeri senior principal magistrate in connection with her late husband's murder.

Senior principal magistrate Pauline Omungala was summoned by Athi River police officers investigating the murder and locked up yesterday as a suspect.

Lawyer Robert Chesang was shot 7 times in the couples posh Lukenya home on February 17. The murder was described as an assassination.

A senior police officer told the Star:

The motive was domestic violence between the deceased and his arrested wife, occasioned by fighting for property and leading to their cases appearing before courts. The wife felt that being a magistrate, she was being embarrassed with the cases being handled in courts.

Chesang' had even filed a case in court that alleged that he had been forced to move out of his house because his wife was violent and was using police officers to harass and intimidate him. His affidavit read:

From August 17 to date, I’ve lost all that I’ve acquired progressively since I started married life due to illegal actions of the respondents. I have technically lost the house, the cars and all my earthly belongings.

Chesang had also expressed dissatisfaction on the manner in which his case was being handled, alleging interference from his wife and other magistrates, with his case being transferred five times before a ruling was made.

Chesang had also asked the court to order “competent” police officers to investigate the assault charges against him afresh.

The officer, who did not want to be named, explained that Pauline was introduced to a senior former NIS officer with whom she discussed her troubles. This NIS officer, Lawrence Lempesi is the one police believe was the link between to Magistrate Omungala and her husband’s murder.

The analysis by the police revealed:

The ballistic experts did analyse the fire arms, AK-47 rifles from Mutuini police post, against the cartridges recovered from the scene of Chesang’s murder. Two of the firearms were identified as the ones which were used to murder him.

Omungala had previously served as a magistrate in Wundanyi, Milimani, Kangundo, Kajiado, Mavoko and before being moved to Nyeri for the last five years.