A court in Nyeri has ordered that a man accused of hiring hitmen to kill his son be held in police custody for five extra days until an investigation into the matter is concluded.

Stephen Wangondu Kinini and five other suspects were presented before Nyeri Principal Magistrate Mathias Okuche on Friday and prosecution asked for more time to hold them.

The other suspects who were arraigned alongside Wangondu on Friday are Geoffrey Waturi, Eddy Kariuki Ngari, Charity Muchiri, James Mahinda Mwangi and Raphael Wachira.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has indicated in court that Wangondu had paid the said hitmen Sh160,000 to murder his son Daniel Mwangi Wang’ondu over a family feud.

Mwangi’s body was discovered in a pool of blood near the gate to his residence at Wendiga village in Nyeri early morning on January 1.

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Nothing was stolen from the house and vehicle of the businessman who plied his trade at Mweiga town in Nyeri leading investigators to believe there was more to the gruesome murder.

James Mahinda Mwangi, the first suspect in the killing, is the father’s driver and he was tracked down by police to Githurai in Nairobi County and apprehended on February 20.

Mahinda led detectives to Matakani in Embu where police officers arrested two other suspects, Geoffrey Waturi and Eddy Kariuki Ngari.

A further probe disclosed that the deceased’s father had hired the three friends in December to kill his son over unclear family differences and paid them Sh160,000 to commit the crime.

Wang’ondu had reportedly contracted his driver, who then invited his long-term friends from Embu, to form a team that would plot and execute the murder of his son on the fateful night.

A fourth suspect, Charity Muchiri, was arrested later and linked to the murder plot.