• Security guard tells police Supreme Court Judge threatened him with gun
• Ibrahim denies owning a gun but confirms he argued with guard at home
Supreme Court judge Mohammed Ibrahim last evening denied reports he had threatened a security officer with a gun.
Police in Nairobi have opened investigations into allegations by a security guard that the judge of the highest court had threatened one of his guards.
But Ibrahim said he only had an altercation with the guard who was rude to him and had breached his security.
"He had been bringing strangers to use a toilet in my compound without my permission. When I asked him, he was rude but I left after telling him to leave my compound," Ibrahim said.
"I neither have a gun licence nor a gun and none of the family members has anySupreme Court judge Mohammed Ibrahim
Gigiri DCI officers have been instructed to take up the matter and record statements from various people after a supervisor in a security firm, Ronald Ayiela, filed a complaint that the judge threatened him at his Spring Valley home on Thursday morning.
Through OB number 3/21/3/2019, Ayiela, a supervisor with Pan Security Guards, told Spring Valley police the judge pulled a gun on him after he informed him of the company's decision to change the judge's home guards.
Last evening, Nairobi police Chief Philip Ndolo confirmed the matter had been reported to the police.
“We have only heard from one party and we hope to hear from the other party when we open investigations," Ndolo told the Star on phone.
A judge known to Ibrahim told the Star last evening they doubted the Supreme Court Judge had a gun.
“When we were vetted the other day by the Firearms Licensing Board, only two judges had guns and Ibrahim was not one of them,” said Mohammed’s colleague.
The allegations emerged a day after the Judicial Service Commission asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to set up a tribunal to investigate Supreme Court judge Jackton Ojwang.
In a statement delivered by Chief Justice David Maraga, JSC said it has strong evidence that Ojwang was involved in gross misconduct in a case involving Migori Governor Okoth Obado.
On Tuesday Ojwang declined to appear before the JSC to respond to various allegations against him including being bribed to deliver favourable rulings and being a partial arbitrator.
In 2012, a seven-member tribunal set up to investigate the conduct of Deputy Chief Justice NancyBaraza unanimously recommended Baraza, who was also Vice President of the Supreme Court, be removed from office.
Chairman Tanzanian Augustino Ramadhani said the tribunal believed security guard Rebecca Kerubo’s claim that Baraza pinched her nose and drew a gun on her, threatening her at a shopping mall on December 31, 2011.
The incident happened at the Village Market shopping mall.
Yesterday, another security guard, Ayiela, told police that while on a routine security check of his staff deployed to Justice Ibrahim’s home in Spring Valley, he met the judge at home.
He informed him that the company intended to change a security guard who was guarding the residence as a matter of standard practice. The judge, according to Ayiela, objected and maintained that he wanted the guard whom he was familiar with to remain. There was a verbal exchange between Ayiela and the judge leading to the alleged threats.
Once investigations are complete, police could either decide to prosecute the judge or clear him of the allegations depending on the evidence available.
Ibrahim has been in the news in the last few weeks after lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi accused him of taking a bribe to rule in favour of Wajir Governor Mohammed Abdi.
On February 27, Ibrahim threatened the sue Ahmednassir Abdullahi for publishing defamatory tweets against him and other judges. Justice Ibrahim through his lawyer Wambua Kilonzo demanded an apology from Ahmednassir within seven days or face a lawsuit. It's not clear if the apology was rendered.
In a majority decision, with Chief Justice David Maraga and Justice Isaac Lenaola dissenting, the judges said the High Court and Court of Appeal wrongly assumed jurisdiction to rule on the Wajir governor’s academic papers.
Ibrahim was appointed a judge of the inaugural Supreme Court of Kenya on June 16, 2011.
Until then, he had been a High Court Judge since his appointment on May 22, 2003, serving in Eldoret, Nairobi and Mombasa. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi and was admitted to the Roll of Advocates on January 11, 1983.
He practised law at Waruhiu & Muite Advocates, where he was admitted as a partner in 1985.