Court Delays Case of Flower Firm Director Accused of Threatening to Kill Co-Director

The Nairobi Magistrate has rescheduled the hearing of a matter  where a director of Heritage Flowers Limited is charged with threatening to kill a co-director, for the reason that the police file was not produced in court.

Principal Magistrate Caroline Mugo rescheduled the matter after an Application for Adjournment on the grounds that the police file had not been produced in court.

The Court had earlier dismissed the application by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to have the matter withdrawn, where Shailesh Kumar Rai, a director of a company, is charged with threatening to kill Punjani Riyaz Mahammadali, a co-director in the company.

“Your honour, we apologise since we are not ready to proceed because the police file is not before the court and I have not got in touch with the officer investigating the matter,” state counsel Irene Magolo told the Magistrate.

The complainant’s lawyer reluctantly acceded to the Application , stating that “We had taken the time to conduct a pretrial preparation with the Prosecution Last week. We had noted the need to have an interpreter in the matter, and the court had provided one. The complainant is present before the court, and we had also sought and obtained videography equipment to assist  the Court in appreciating some aspects of the evidence to be tendered.”

The lawyer added that when the dates were provided during the date for ruling, in the presence of a different prosecutor hence it is probable that the file was handled by a different officer.

The defense Counsel, while acceding to the Application for adjournment, sought that the Court mark the adjournment as the last one for the prosecution. Mr Gachau Counsel, watching brief for the complainant, indicated to the court that it was premature to take that step, as the complainant was in court and had taken sufficient steps to have the matter heard and given the history of the matter, it would be prejudicial to him.

The ODPP, through a letter, had requested the court withdraw the matter as the file was under review. The defence lawyer, Daniel Gachau, representing the complainant, vehemently opposed the application by the ODPP, citing that they have not been supplied with the said letter,

He added that the allegations of threatening to kill are very serious, and he invited the court to consider the impact of the action on the complainant to withdraw the matter without sufficient genuine reasons.

The Court, having considered the submissions by Counsel for the Complainant, directed that the matter be mentioned on July 15, 2026, to allocate the hearing day and the availability of the police file before the court.