Nairobi: British Woman Petitions DCI, ODPP Over Alleged Illegal Detention at JKIA
- A Nairobi mother says she was unlawfully detained at JKIA despite a court order protecting her from arrest
- She claimed the arrest was used as a tool to pressure her into surrendering control of her late father's estate
- Multiple state bodies have been petitioned, but no formal response has been made so far
TUKO.co.ke journalist Harry Ivan Mboto has over three years of experience reporting on politics and current affairs in Kenya
What was meant to be a family getaway turned into a tense legal standoff for one Nairobi woman, who is now accusing state officers of unlawful detention, contempt of court, and intimidation.
Source: UGC
Stephanie Carol Grantham has written to several senior government offices, including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Judiciary, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, demanding accountability after she was detained at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on July 15.
This was despite her holding a valid High Court order barring her arrest.
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According to the complaint seen by TUKO.co.ke, Grantham was travelling to South Africa with her husband and two young children, aged 8 and 9, when she was stopped at passport control.
Immigration officers flagged her passport, allegedly citing an “alert” placed under instructions from Chief Inspector Eunice Njue of the DCI.
Despite immediately producing a conservatory court order issued on July 8 in case HCCHRPET E240 of 2025, she says officers refused to acknowledge it and handed her over to detectives.
She was held at a DCI office in Parking Lot D at JKIA for over eight hours, with her children by her side.
During this time, she claims she was not allowed to speak privately with her lawyer and was repeatedly threatened with transfer to Central Police Station.
Her travel documents were confiscated, and no clear reason or charge was given for the detention.
Was the Carol Grantham arrest part of a bigger dispute?
Grantham believes her arrest was part of a larger scheme aimed at coercing her into surrendering control of her late father’s estate.
While in custody, she received an email from Advocate Andrew Wandabwa, representing Joan Mumbua Muli Ndunda and Savannah Grantham.
The email outlined a proposed out-of-court settlement requiring her to step down as executor of the estate, withdraw from all succession proceedings, and transfer assets to a trust controlled by Savannah.
The same legal matter referenced in the email—MCCR E250 of 2025—was, she says, used as the pretext for her arrest.
Grantham described the timing as deliberate, calling the incident a clear attempt to “pervert the course of justice” through intimidation.
Later that night, around 9:30 pm, she was taken to the JKIA Police Station, referred to mockingly by officers as “the criminal Stephanie Grantham,” and forced to sign the Occurrence Book without being allowed to read the entry.
She was released without charge at 10:30 pm. No formal explanation, documentation, or apology was given.
"These actions amount to false imprisonment, abuse of office, and a willful breach of a court order, contrary to the Penal Code ections 99 (neglect of duty), 101 (abuse of office), and the Contempt of Court Act section 4 (1) (a)," she said in the petition.
Is Mumbua Muli Ndunda behind Grantham's harassment?
In her complaint, Grantham traced the issue back to what she calls a long-standing pattern of abuse by Joan Mumbua Muli Ndunda, dating as far back as 2005.
She claimed Ndunda subjected her father, David Jonathan Grantham, to violent attacks, including a 2010 assault with a golf club that broke his back and a 2015 stabbing with a kitchen knife that required emergency surgery.
Despite reporting these incidents to Karen Police Station, she says no investigation or prosecution ever followed.
She believes this inaction enabled the abuse to continue unchecked for years, contributing to the atmosphere of fear her father lived in until his death in November 2023.
"Despite the severity of these incidents, including the stabbing and the 2010 assault, my father did not pursue prosecution, a decision born not from forgiveness but from fear, exhaustion, and the clear futility of engaging a police system that had failed him repeatedly," she wrote.
After he passed away, Grantham was appointed by the High Court as the executor of his estate.
Since then, she alleges, Ndunda and Savannah have tried to block the succession process by filing what she calls malicious court claims and leveraging law enforcement to intimidate her and her co-administrator, Nelson Ndalila.
She cited her JKIA detention as one of several examples of the criminal process being misused to interfere with civil matters.
"These events reflect a coordinated pattern of violence, intimidation and abuse of state power orchestrated by Ndunda, Savannah Grantham and their legal advocates, with the direct involvement or complicity of law enforcement officers," the petition read.
In her 40-page petition, Grantham called for an independent investigation by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), disciplinary action against the officers and advocates involved, and legal proceedings for contempt of court.
She also wants the DCI to lift any existing alerts on her name and for the relevant authorities to publicly acknowledge that her detention was unlawful.
Source: Twitter
Woman nabbed at JKIA for attempting to smuggle drugs
In a related incident in June, anti-narcotics officers at JKIA arrested 26-year-old Wendy Mbeke Muli on suspicion of drug trafficking.
She was intercepted while preparing to board an outbound flight after her behaviour during routine screening raised suspicions.
Upon arrest, Mbeke was placed under medical observation, where she excreted two pellets on the same day. By the following day, she had passed six more, making a total of eight pellets containing approximately 626 grams of co*caine.
Proofreading by Jackson Otukho, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
