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Police officer to stand trial for Siaya teacher’s murder

Friday, June 5th, 2020 00:00 | By
Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji. Photo/PD/File

Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji ordered police officer charged with murder of a high school teacher.

The officer, Lotum Angorita, who accused of killing Colleta Amondi Ouda, is among six police officers are expected to be charged this week with various offences.

Haji’s directive, which amid concerns over rising incidents of  extra-judicial killings, follows investigations by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa).

The authority is currently probing the shooting of at least 10 people in the past week while the DPP is reviewing 80 cases of police misconduct.

Teacher Ouda, was shot by one of two police officers who while responding to a burglary incident at Usigu market, Siaya county.

A public inquest on the matter was launched but Haji directed that it be withdrawn in favour of the murder trial.

Haji has also said there is sufficient evidence to charge Constable Duncan Ndiema Ndiwa alias Champes with murder for shooting to death a 13-year-old Yassin Hussein Moyo. Moyo was shot while at the balcony of his parent’s home in Kiamaiko, Nairobi on March 30, 2020.

Life imprisonment 

Four other officers risk life imprisonment for causing grievous bodily harm to AbdiIbrahim Noor in Garissa during an arrest. Ipoa investigations revealed that without any justification, Festus Saina, Boniface Chacha, Joseph Mwaniki and Nahashon Adera fractured the victim’s leg during an arrest near Gateway Hotel, Garissa.

The Ipoa chairperson Anne Makori yesterday warned that the agency will not hesitate to take action against rogue officers.

“Ipoa supports officers in maintaining law and order but will not hesitate to act in accordance with its mandate, on the few bad elements that break the same laws they are supposed to enforce,” she said.

According to police regulations, officers should always attempt to use non-violent means first, and if force is used, it should be proportional to the objective to be achieved, the seriousness of the offence, and the resistance of the person against whom it is used.

The Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai has also ordered for investigations into the fatal shooting of terror suspect Mohamed Mapenzi and his two children at Kibundani in Kwale county by police officers on May 29.

The team of investigators is headed by the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) Director Mohammed Amin and the Unit’s Chief Investigator Wilhelm Kimutai.

On Wednesday, Mutyambai directed  IAU deputy director Gitahi Kanyeki to lead a team of detectives to Mathare area to establish circumstances surrounding the shooting of a homeless man only known as ‘Vaite.’

The deceased, a cart puller with no known relatives was shot on the chest on Monday around 7.30pm when police officers fired in the air to disperse residents who had allegedly breached the dawn-to-dusk curfew. Moments later he succumbed to the gunshot wound, prompting protests within Mathare.

According to police records, Starehe sub-county has witnessed more cases of police shooting in the last few months. At least four people have been shot in mystery-ridden incidents in the last one week.

Last Friday, two suspects were shot dead in unclear circumstances. Investigations have been launched following reports that the deceased were arrested by police the previous day, contrary to what the police said.

According to the police, the owner of Hud Yare Designer shop Abdiabib Dekor Bore said he had been informed by his guard that there were four gangsters breaking into his shop. The watchman raised the alarm and officers on patrol responded.

Homemade pistol

Starehe OCPD Alice Kimeli said one of the gangsters fired at the officers who  in turn shot the two dead and recovered a homemade pistol, a bag containing suspected stolen clothes and a pair of scissors.

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