Four Machakos officers face murder charges over tout's death

Four Machakos county officers who chased a tout to his death in 2012 have a case to answer, the High Court in Machakos has ruled.

Jones Mutua Anthony and three others are accused of causing the death of Makau Muthoka on January 31, 2012, as he attempted to escape lawful custody.

Justice George Odunga put the accused to their defence after a post-mortem report indicated that Muthoka’s death could have been occasioned by injuries sustained after a fall.

“The evidence so far is that the accused were the people who chased the deceased before he was eventually apprehended,” he said.

Muthoka and other touts who were being transferred to police cells tried to escape when he allegedly fell into a hole in Mukalala village of Mjini Location within Machakos county.

According to a prosecution witness, an enforcement officer with the county executive deployed the accused persons to Machakos Bus Park to maintain order and ensure a smooth flow of traffic.

In the course of performing the said duties, the accused persons arrested some touts including Muthoka for the offence of touting and shouting.

After the arrest, the touts were taken to the council cells in Machakos.

“It was then decided that the touts be taken to the police cells. However, along the way, the deceased attempted to run away but was later apprehended and locked in police cells,” the witness said.

At night, the deceased complained that he had chest pains and that he had fallen into a hole during the chase.

He was then taken to hospital for treatment but allegedly passed away before being attended to.

Justice Odunga, however, noted that even though the accused had a case to answer, it was weak as the prosecution was only relying on circumstantial evidence.

“Clearly the prosecution’s case as presented, even if it were to be taken to be true, would still not lead to a conviction,” he said.

He went on, “The accused has been identified or recognised and there is absolutely no evidence whether direct or circumstantial linking him to the offence. It would be foolhardy to put him on his defence.”

Odunga said that even though there was no direct evidence linking the accused to the injuries leading to the death and all the evidence emanating from the post mortem examination carried out after the deceased’s death proved the case.

“While one of the reports was to the effect that the injuries sustained by the deceased and which led to his death could have been occasioned by a fall, the other post mortem ruled out the possibility of the said fatal injuries having been caused by a fall,” the judge said.

Justice Odunga said there was no evidence as to what actually happened between the time the deceased attempted to escape and the time he was apprehended.

“The evidence was that the deceased was in good health when he was first arrested by the accused persons and that his problems started after he was apprehended the second time,” the judge said.

(edited by O. Owino)