When police led Rose Mbithe Mulwa and her son Chris Mulwa into court over the murder of clinical psychologist Dr Victoria Nthunya Mutiso, they reopened more than a homicide investigation.

They also revived a courtroom battle that had faded into legal archives but involved another victim of violent crime, Nairobi lawyer Mathew Kyalo Mbobu.

The two cases are separated by nearly two decades and remain legally unrelated. Yet they are linked by one woman whose name now appears in both - Rose Mbithe Mulwa, formerly Rose Mbithe Ndetei.

Long before detectives identified Ms Mulwa as a suspect in Dr Mutiso's killing and obtained court orders to detain her as investigations continued, she had fought a bruising legal war with advocate Mbobu.

Rose Mbithe Mulwa, a suspect in the fatal shooting of clinical psychologist Dr. Victoria Mutiso, at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi on July 31, 2026.

Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group

Court records show Mbobu represented Ms Mulwa's former husband, Prof David Musyimi Ndetei, in divorce proceedings and a bitter dispute over matrimonial property.

Ms Mulwa later sued for the division of the couple's property, but Mbobu remained on the opposing legal team. The dispute eventually spilled beyond the courtroom.

According to the Court records, Ms Mulwa circulated a letter to several people and institutions containing allegations that Mbobu said damaged his reputation as an advocate.

Mbobu responded by filing a defamation suit. He sought damages, an injunction restraining further publication of the statements and an order compelling Ms Mulwa to retract them.

The High Court ruled in his favour in November 2005 after the matter proceeded ex parte.

The court awarded Mbobu Sh1.5 million in damages, granted an injunction and ordered Ms Mulwa to pay costs of the case but she did not let the matter rest.

Read: 'Let there be no peace': Slain lawyer Kyalo Mbobu's family demands answers

After auctioneers moved to attach her property, Ms Mulwa sought to have the judgment set aside, arguing she deserved an opportunity to defend herself.

The High Court dismissed her application. She then turned to the Court of Appeal seeking to stop execution of the decree while pursuing an intended appeal.

The Court of Appeal judges rejected her application holding that she had not appealed against the original judgment and therefore could not obtain a stay against its execution.

The judges also found Ms Mulwa had failed to demonstrate that refusing the stay would render her intended appeal worthless. Her application was dismissed with costs.

For years, the legal battle attracted little public attention. Then Mbobu himself became the victim of a violent crime.

Nation inside - 2025-09-10T112015.237 — Prominent Nairobi lawyer, Mathew Kyalo Mbobu was shot and killed in his car by an assailant on a motorbike on Magadi Road in Karen.

Photo credit: File | Nation

On September 9, 2025, the lawyer was driving home along Magadi Road near Brookhouse International School when two gunmen on a motorcycle intercepted his vehicle in slow-moving traffic and shot him eight times before fleeing.

The killing shocked Kenya's legal fraternity and remains unresolved. Interior Ministry officials later told the Senate that investigations were still ongoing.

Now, Ms Mulwa is back before the courts. Last week, she was presented before a court as detectives sought more time to investigate the murder of Dr Victoria Mutiso her former husband's wife.

Read: Scholar, schemer, victim: The many faces of Nairobi lawyer Mathew Kyalo Mbobu

The court allowed investigators to continue holding Ms Mulwa as inquiries continue. She has not been convicted, and the investigation remains active.

The murder of Dr Mutiso has itself drawn widespread attention because of reports that the psychologist had expressed fears for her life before she was killed and the suspect being her husband's former wife.

Reports indicate Dr Mutiso had complained of threats and had reported an invasion at her farm in Mlolongo before her death, incidents that investigators are examining as they reconstruct the events leading to the killing.

Those reports have become part of the broader inquiry into whether warning signs were missed before the homicide.

Against that backdrop, the resurfacing of Ms Mulwa's earlier legal history with Mbobu has generated fresh interest.

Dr Victoria Mutiso, a clinical psychologist who was gunned down in Nairobi. Preliminary findings indicate that she may have been followed from her home.

The Court of Appeal judgment paints a picture of a highly acrimonious dispute born out of divorce litigation.

It recounts how Mbobu continued acting for Prof Ndetei during matrimonial property proceedings before suing Rose over statements he said defamed him professionally.

The judges ultimately upheld the enforcement of the judgment in Mbobu's favour, noting that Ms Mulwa had not challenged the original decision through an appeal and had not met the legal threshold required to halt execution of the decree.

Today, both Mbobu and Dr Mutiso are dead.

There is no evidence in the court documents linking the old civil dispute to either Mbobu's killing or Dr Mutiso's death.

For the public, however, the revival of the old court file has offered an unexpected glimpse into a legal feud that has returned to the spotlight after tragedy struck two professionals whose lives became intertwined, years apart, through one woman now once again at the centre of court proceedings.

bmatheka@ke.nationmedia.com

Follow our WhatsApp channel for breaking news updates and more stories like this.