14 officers to face murder charges after Ipoa inquiry
At least 14 police officers, a chief and his assistant will face various murder charges if the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) concurs with the recommendations of the police oversight body.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) has forwarded 34 files to DPP Noordin Haji with recommendations for murder, public inquest and disciplinary action, among others, following months of investigations.
Those to be charged with murder include the chief of Kiambogo location in Laikipia county, his assistant and four General Service Unit (GSU) officers from Muhotetu sub-unit, who assaulted Mary Chepkorir Kiprotich at her homestead.
The woman was on the same day pronounced dead at Ndindika Health Centre. Ipoa’s probe revealed that the assault was deliberate and without any lawful cause.
Also recommended to be charged with murder is an AP officer attached to Waithaka police post for the fatal shooting of a matatu conductor David Kariuki at Waithaka shopping centre, in May 2018.
The officer, who was said to have been on a drinking spree, was found to be drunk when he shot Kariuki.
Record statement
In another case, the oversight body has recommended that Administration Police Constable Patrick Nyapara, who investigations linked to the fatal shooting of Christine Naututu Maonga in March 2019, be charged with murder.
A police constable attached to North Horr Police Station, who brutally assaulted a Kenyatta University graduate leading to his death, is also staring at a murder case.
Constable Bernard Gachau was found to have attacked to death, Ali Sora Bonaya for no clear reasons. The post-mortem revealed the victim had a ruptured spleen and broken rib.
After the assault, Bonaya reported to the police station but Sergeant James Mulwa refused to record his statement. Ipoa has also recommended that Sgt Mulwa be charged with a disciplinary offence.
Unjustified killings
Ipoa has also written to the DPP to substitute the charges of manslaughter with murder in a case in which a police officer, Alfred Odhiambo, based at Dandora Police Station shot and killed Samuel Mwangi Ndungu in April 2016.
Odhiambo shot the deceased near Dandora Shell petrol station while dispersing bystanders at an accident scene. Investigations revealed that he unlawfully and unjustifiably killed Ndungu.
However, despite the efforts by the oversight body, unjustified killings are still being reported. On Sunday, a 62-year-old man was killed allegedly by an officer attached to Kakamega North Directorate of Criminal Investigations office (DCI).
Benson Waluvengo Benjamin was arrested at Litungu bar and restaurant in Malava town on allegation that he had assaulted DCI officer Constable Elisha Arunga.
While at the station, the officer allegedly hit him twice on the head, killing him on the spot.
The murder comes barely a fortnight after a post-mortem revealed that another man, Erick Nyariki Nyaboe, who police claimed had committed suicide inside the cell at Zimmerman Administration Police post was actually tortured to death while in custody.
The officers initially staged a scene to appear like the suspect had committed suicide by hanging himself.
On Wednesday last week, another officer who had shot and seriously injured a Form Four student in 2014 was jailed for 20 years after a Garissa court found him guilty.
Corporal Edward Wanyonyi Makokha had on September 25, 2014 walked into a kiosk in Benane town, Garissa county and grabbed a mobile phone from the student.
The student, Ibrahim Hassan Shid, followed the officer and demanded to be given his phone back.
The officer shot him, at close range and without any provocation, on the chin and thigh before firing the third round in the air and escaping from the scene.
Ipoa launched investigations and forwarded the file to the DPP with a recommendation that a case of causing grievous harm to the student which had been filed by the police, be withdrawn in favour of an attempted murder case.
The ODPP concurred with the authority and on October 29, 2015 the officer was charged in court. Twelve witnesses including four police officers testified.
Among the exhibits presented before Garissa Law Courts were two spent cartridges that were collected at the scene of the shooting and a bullet head that was retrieved from the student’s thigh bone.
