The trial of seven people facing charges of murdering police officers in Baragoi, Samburu county, four years ago was concluded yesterday, with the defence lawyer dismissing evidence presented in court as unreliable.
‘Inconsistent testimony’
Lawyer Robert Ndubi told trial judge Maureen Odero there were many inconsistencies in the evidence presented by investigating officer Charles Mwaisinga.
The lawyer questioned why Mwaisinga could not explain why the last postmortem date of the 25 slain officers was made on November 16, 2012, a day before the last five bodies were collected from the scene in Baragoi.
Ndubi said the officer could not explain why there was no recovery certificate for the 17 cartridges recovered from the scene.
Mwaisinga told the judge that he travelled to Baragoi on November 12, 2012, two days after the murder of police officers by bandits at Suguta Valley in Samburu county.
He said he later went to the scene of murder on November 17 and helped in the recovery of the last five bodies. He also collected spent cartridges for analysis.
However, he could not explain why he did not record this information in his diary or the police notebook. The said information is also not captured in his earlier statement.
Seven people, among them four chiefs, a civic leader, a police reservist and an employee of Grevy Zebra Trust, are charged with killing 12 police officers on November 12, 2012.
The alleged murders were committed at Lomirok Hills in Baragoi, Samburu North.
How many officers ?
Yesterday, Mwaisinga could not say if the officers were moving in platoons or give the actual number of police officers involved in the operation. At least 42 officers were killed by bandits in the ambush.
When pressed harder, Mwaisinga said there were about 200 policemen involved in the operation.
He, however, could not tell whether Samburu reservists were also part of the operation. Some witnesses had said that several reservists took part as guides during the botched mission.
Ndubi questioned how Mwaisinga concluded investigations only a day after arriving in Baragoi.
Another defence lawyer, Solomon Wamwayi, asked the officer why he arrested five suspects yet he could not place them at the murder scene.
The trial will resume on March 24, for submissions.