Court hears claims of cover-up instructions in Tob Cohen disappearance case

A Nairobi court on Tuesday heard claims of an alleged instruction to mislead the public about the whereabouts of Dutch businessman Tob Cohen after he disappeared in 2019, as prosecutors continued building their case against Sarah Wairimu Kamotho.

A witness told the court that Cohen’s absence was followed by directions suggesting he had left the country for treatment.

The worker testified that July 19, 2019 was the last time he saw Cohen alive while working at his residence. He said that when he later returned to the property, Cohen was no longer present and questions had started emerging about his whereabouts.

According to his testimony, Sarah allegedly directed him to inform anyone asking that Cohen had travelled to Thailand for medical care. He repeated in court, "Madam (Sarah) had told us that on 22nd Tom had gone for medical…so my interpretation is that madam didn’t want anyone to know…”

The court also heard that Cohen had earlier confided in the same worker, saying that Sarah had injured his face during a domestic altercation shortly before he went missing. Prosecutors relied on the account to trace a timeline of events inside the compound in the days leading up to his disappearance.

The witness further revisited earlier observations he made while moving around the property, telling the court that he noticed unusual mounds on a concrete slab covering a septic tank during his lunch break. He said the features were not present before and appeared after he had been away briefly.

He also described seeing activity involving workers clearing vegetation and placing it over the same area. "In my statement, I said in the afternoon, they were already covered up by the heaps because they were doing cleaning on Monday. PW1 was doing cleaning and PW2 was in the house…there was another guy that was the one who was working on the garden specific location," recalled the witness.

The court was also informed that Cohen had previously reached out to lawyer Judy Thongori, instructing her to begin defamation and criminal proceedings against Sarah over alleged false statements made to police and others.

Sarah sat through the proceedings in silence as the prosecution laid out the sequence of events and witness accounts surrounding the days before Cohen disappeared.

The matter will proceed further after the court adjourned the hearing to June 15, 2026.