Four arrested over murder of Scottish businessman in Kenya

Four arrested over murder of Scottish businessman in Kenya

A Scottish businessman, Campbell Scott, 58, was discovered dead in a sack within Makongo Forest, approximately 60 miles from Nairobi, on 24 February last year. His body was found in the area where he had been residing. The arrests of four suspects followed an intelligence-driven, multi-agency operation in Ukunda, a coastal town about 16 miles south of Mombasa.

Scott, a senior director at the credit scoring firm FICO, had traveled to Nairobi for a conference before vanishing. He was reported missing after failing to meet colleagues at the JW Marriott Hotel in the city’s Westlands district to deliver a presentation. The previous evening, he had visited the Havana nightclub. Kenyan police indicated they believed he was taken to a property in the Pipeline district, a slum area roughly 9.3 miles from his hotel.

Detectives linked the suspects to the murder and multiple violent robberies. Following a separate inquiry into a robbery involving an American national in Nyali near Mombasa, the arrests occurred. Two individuals, a taxi driver and a nightclub waiter, were initially questioned as they were last seen with Scott. Two of them were arrested in March last year, and one has since appeared in court charged with murder.

“An operation was conducted by DCI officers drawn from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CR&IB) Headquarters, working jointly with their counterparts from SCCIO Nyali and SCCIO Msambweni (Ukunda),” stated Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). “The suspects, Bernard Mbusu, Isaac Kinoti Kobia, Evans Muthengi Mutaki, and Kelvin Mwangi Njoroge, were apprehended at Ideal Apartments, Ukunda. The suspects have also been forensically linked to another robbery with violence in Watamu, Malindi Sub-County.”

A search of the suspect’s residence uncovered stolen items, including an HP laptop, mobile phones, various foreign currencies, credit cards, cheque books from different banks, and PDQ card reader machines. Prosecutors suggested Scott was detained there for some time to retrieve funds from his accounts. A post-mortem examination provided inconclusive results, but pathologists noted the injuries were “too minor” to account for his death.