Three officers from Kilimani police station were yesterday charged with manslaughter in the death of an IT engineer in 2012.
The trio appeared before chief magistrate Daniel Ogembo at the Milimani law courts and denied killing Fred Ogola.
Eric Mosoti, Zachariah Kandie and Simon Gitonga were released on Sh300,000 cash bail or Sh5 million bond.
Ogola was killed on Jabavu Lane in Kilimani. The prosecution has listed 16 witnesses to testify.
Senior principal magistrate Joyce Gandani last month ordered that the three be charged after an inquest.
The officers said Ogola was not among five partygoers arrested at Nyayo Highrise estate on April 6.
Ogola’s father said his son was arrested as part of a larger group of 52 people but was never booked in the occurrence book.
Only 32 people were booked after the rest were released under unclear circumstances.
Ogola’s body was found on April 7, 2012 on Jabavu Lane. The police said he was knocked dead in a hit-and-run incident.
Ogola’s family through lawyer Danstan Omari instituted an inquest.Gandani said the officers’ claims that Ogola died in a hit-and-run accident were contradicted by chief pathologist Johansen Oduor.
“The pathologist testified that Fred died as a result of blunt trauma. The trauma could have been caused when the deceased hit the road when thrown out of the moving police lorry,” Gandani said.
Oduor said the injuries were not consistent with those of someone in a hit-and-run road accident.
She said according to police officer Simon Laktani, the accident scene did not have skid marks as is the norm with vehicles in accident scenes.
Former Kilimani police boss Bernard Muli then ordered a probe. The case will be heard on July 5.