Court examines call logs, videos in Maxine Wahome murder case

Videos, photos and thousands of pages of call logs and messages were yesterday produced before the High Court in the murder trial of rally driver Maxine Wahome, who is charged with killing her boyfriend, fellow rally driver and mechanic, Asad Khan.

A digital forensics expert attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Timothy Nyande, told Justice Lilian Mutende that the videos, photos and call logs were extracted from a mobile phone belonging to Maxine. 

“The videos, images and call logs, which were extracted from an iPhone belonging to the accused, Maxine,” the expert said.

Maxine is accused of murdering Asad at their Kileleshwa apartment in Nairobi on December 12, 2022, by inflicting serious injuries on his leg, from which he later died while undergoing treatment at Avenue Hospital.

Nyande tendered a key piece of evidence, a video clip that was played in open court, of a distressed woman believed to be Maxine, narrating to her father and detectives how her late lover allegedly injured himself and assaulted her before he died.

In the clip, she is heard crying: “Daddy, he cut himself. He kicked the window pane. I was the one who was beaten up.”

The video shows blood on the grill of the door and on the floor, with two police officers standing outside as Maxine calls her father and refuses to open the door.

Maxine is further heard telling the officers that Asad kicked a window and that is where he sustained the leg injury.

Nyande further told the court that among the thousands of videos and photos submitted to him for forensic examination, there was no footage showing the alleged altercation between the deceased and the accused.

The court heard that this clip is part of the evidence relied on by Maxine’s defence team, led by lawyers Philip Murgor and Steve Kimathi.

“There was no altercation on the distress video. I did an independent analysis as I prepared the report,” the expert told the court.

Asked whether he had been misled in the report as alleged by the defence lawyers, he replied: “I was not misled or assisted to doctor the report by Corporal Kibei while preparing the report.”

The officer also produced photographs taken inside the couple’s house shortly after the incident.

“These are images of bloodstains on the floor. In my view, they depict bloodstains on the floor of their house,” Nyande stated.

He also showed the court a photo of Asad leaving the apartment while visibly injured.

“Another photo shows the late Asad walking with an injured leg, with blood flowing. He is seen leaving the apartment,” the witness testified.

The court heard that DCI detectives extracted the contents of Maxine’s phone, which were documented in 76,000 pages. From that bulk extraction, the witness prepared a shorter report.

“From the 76,000 pages, I prepared a 22-page report containing the images, videos and calls that were relevant to the case,” he explained.

“In my report of 22 pages, I included the relevant videos, messages and calls.”

He admitted that not everything in the extraction made it into the formal report.

“Some images and videos were missing in the report, but this was not deliberate, as they did not relate to the events of the fateful night,” he told the judge.

“I was asked, through a memo from the investigating officer, to focus on the crime scene, call logs and messages.”

For instance, he disputed the defence’s claim that four videos played in court, allegedly showing injuries to Maxine’s eyes inflicted by the deceased on the fateful night, formed part of his focus.

“I want to make it clear that the four videos played in open court by the defence were recorded in August 2022 and not on either December 11 or 12, 2022, which is the fateful day,” Nyande told the court.

The expert also walked the court through specific call logs between Maxine, the deceased and Maxine’s mother, including a WhatsApp call at 9.11am lasting nine minutes and 43 seconds on the day of the incident.

He further produced chats between Maxine and Asad, noting that she had saved his contact as “My Samurai”, and messages where they discussed Jameson and whiskey.

He told the court he did not analyse the love chats in depth and returned the phone after extraction.

Under cross-examination, he denied doctoring any evidence or being influenced by the investigating officer, saying the investigator only guided him on which materials to highlight in the report, and that he had been asked to focus on the crime scene, messages and call logs.

The hearing continues today, with the last witness, investigator Daina Angote, expected to take the stand.