The High court in Naivasha is Monday expected to issue a judgment in a murder case against a police officer accused of shooting to death a fisherman in 2014.
Constable Evans Maliecha is on trial for the murder of Moses Kinyanjui Wanyoike on July 27, 2014.
Maliecha, Anti-Stock Theft Unit officer was placed on his defence by Justice Richard Mwongo in 2019 after the prosecution called 16 witnesses.
On the day Wanyoike was killed, he and two other fishermen - Johnson Ndichu and Douglas Tutu were fishing at Crescent Island, Lake Naivasha when the officer shot him in the head at close range.
A day before the killing, a sheep belonging to Crescent Island had been reported missing.
Maliecha and a colleague allegedly had gone to pursue suspects when they sighted the three fishermen and shot at them, instantly killing Moses.
Following the incident and in a bid to conceal the truth, the officer charged Johnson and Douglas with theft of a sheep worth Sh10,000.
After learning of their plight and the injustice meted on the two, International Justice Mission took on Douglas and Johnson’s case to help bring the correct facts before the court.
A magistrate who analyzed the case and acquitted Johnson and Douglas later observed that the evidence was insufficient to prove that they had stolen any sheep.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) investigated the killing and forwarded the file to the DPP who charged the officer with Wanyoike's murder. IJM represented the victim's family in court.