Details have emerged about the letter Rose Mbithe Mulwa circulated about lawyer Kyalo Mbobu that landed her in court and forced her to pay Sh1.5 million in damages after a lengthy legal battle that reached the Court of Appeal.
The dispute arose during Rose’s divorce and matrimonial property case against her former husband, Professor David Musyimi Ndetei.Mbobu, who represented the professor, sued Rose for defamation in 2004 after she allegedly circulated a letter to several individuals and institutions accusing him of deliberately delaying the hearing of the property case.
According to court records, Rose claimed the advocate repeatedly postponed the matter by saying his diary was full and suggested he was intentionally frustrating the proceedings because he believed his client would lose the case.
Mbobu argued that the statements damaged his professional reputation and were false.
The lawyer also accused Rose of confronting him inside a grocery store during the dispute.The matter eventually reached the Court of Appeal, which upheld the finding against Rose and ordered her to pay Mbobu Sh1.5 million in damages.
Mbobu was shot dead in September last year while driving along Magadi Road in Karen after leaving his office. Police have not announced any breakthrough in the investigation into his killing.
The renewed attention on the defamation case comes as Rose faces another major legal battle.
The former Machakos governor candidate and leader of the Empowerment and Liberation Party was arrested alongside her son, advocate Chris Mulwa, over the murder of clinical psychologist Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso.
The two appeared before the Milimani Law Courts after detectives requested additional time to complete investigations into the fatal shooting.
Dr Mutiso, the wife of Professor Ndetei, was killed in Upper Hill while travelling to work in a taxi.
Rose was previously known as Rose Mbithe Ndetei before ending her 31-year marriage to Professor Ndetei in the early 2000s.Following the divorce, she unsuccessfully sought a share of the family’s multimillion shilling matrimonial property before turning to politics.
Detectives believe Dr Mutiso was followed from her home before she was shot by a gunman who arrived on a motorcycle.
Investigators are reviewing CCTV footage and other evidence as they continue to establish the motive behind the killing and determine the circumstances surrounding the high-profile case.