A police officer appeared before a Nairobi court on Wednesday over complaints about brutality meted out on suspects.
Kamukunji police station boss Samir Yunus was summoned by senior principal magistrate Angelo Githinji after several suspects complained that he had assaulted them on different occasions.
Yunus was taken to task to explain why the complainants had accused him and not any other officer at the station or other stations.
"You have been sitting here since the court started and you have not heard any such complaints, and we have other stations. The complaints from your station are not against any other officer other than yourself. There must be a problem,” the magistrate told him.
The chief inspector, however, dismissed the claims, saying he is being targeted for refusing to take bribes.
"I might be a difficult officer to deal with because I swore never to take bribes," he said before he was cut short by the magistrate.
Three suspects in court had accused Yunus of torturing them and pressing charges of trafficking narcotics although they had been arrested for different offences.
One of the suspects, Barua Mwita, said he was arrested with his co-accused and taken directly to the OCS. He said the investigating officer took a phone and showed a photo to Yunus, who then said, "This is the one who preaches."
Yunus said he only sees suspects in the morning and in the evening but doesn't interact with them. He said Mwita had declined to have his fingerprints taken and he only advised him to cooperate and let the officers investigating his case to do their work.
More suspects have been complaining of being charged with trafficking narcotics after random roundups by officers from the station.
The magistrate ordered Yunus to take the three suspects for treatment after they claimed to have suffered injuries during the alleged assaults.
The case will be mentioned on Friday for the court to determine if it will be handled at the same police station.
