• A Lamu court has freed an al Shabaab suspect
A Lamu court has freed an al Shabaab suspect after it was established he was mentally unstable.
Jackson Makiso, 32, had been detained at Hindi GK Prison in Lamu since last year after being arrested by the anti-terror squad at a security roadblock as he headed to Mombasa from Lamu.
He had no identification papers prompting the officers to arrest him on suspicion of being linked to terrorism.
The office of the DPP in Lamu charged Makiso with failing to register as a Kenyan citizen and had him prosecuted.
During the various court summonses, however, the suspect was consistently incoherent and portrayed signs of mental instability.
The court ordered that he undergoes a mental check at the Port Reitz Hospital in Mombasa which established that the suspect was mentally unsound.
Lamu principal magistrate Allan Temba on Friday said the psychiatrists' report caused the court to release Makiso as he was unfit to stand trial due to his mental state.
Temba said the suspect admitted and treated at the hospital for several months before he was released back to the court.
The office of the DCI has been directed that he be released unconditionally to his family.
“He is still unstable and doesn’t even know who his relatives are. He has no identification papers but I am hereby directing the DCI to ensure his relatives are located and he is handed back to them. He is unfit for trial,” Temba said.
The Lamu DCI office has now sent out an appeal for members of the public to help locate Makiso’s relatives.
County DCI commander Paul Leting said his office has also evaluated the suspect and found he was not of sound mind.
“We don’t know his relatives and that’s why we are appealing to the public to help us re-unite him with them. He is non-responsive to questions and since he doesn’t have any identification papers, it is difficult to know where he is from,” Leting said.