- Some 25 police officers are facing charges relating to murder and manslaughter.
- Four officers are facing enforced disappearance charges and one faces defilement charges.
Image: CHARLENE MALWA
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority has recommended the prosecution of 30 police officers since August this year.
In November alone, the authority has successfully sustained the conviction of four police officers.
Four police officers were on Monday jailed after they were found guilty of the manslaughter of Alexander Monson, a Briton.
Mombasa High Court judge Erick Ogolla said on Monday the four officers—Naftali Chege, Charles Munyiri, Ismael Baraka and John Pamba—were responsible for Monson's death.
Chege was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, Munyiri will serve 12 years, Baraka nine years and Pamba 12 years. However, Ogola added that Chege will serve 10 years, Munyiri six, Baraka four and Pamba six because part of the sentence has been suspended, in line with manslaughter cases.
The jail terms were based on the involvement of each accused person.
Chege is said to have arrested Monson, 28, the son of British aristocrat Lord Nicholas Monson, on the night of May 18, 2012, for smoking bhang at a nightclub in Diani.
Police said he died from a drug overdose, but an autopsy confirmed he died from injuries inflicted on his head, scrotum and hand with a blunt object.
Missing Voices, a consortium of human rights organisations, noted that IPOA investigated 25 out of the 30 officers suspected to have been involved in the death of eight people across the country.
Four others are to answer charges of causing the disappearance of one person in Nairobi, while one officer is accused of defiling a minor in Kiambu.
On November 4, two police officers were each sentenced to a 10-year jail term by the High Court in Garissa for fatally shooting a woman in Mandera three years ago.
Denis Langat and Kennedy Okuli were found guilty of killing Abdia Omar Adan when they shot her during a raid at her home on November 10, 2018.
The officers were on a mission to arrest the victim’s son, who, the police said, was wanted for peddling bhang.
Six officers were also charged with the murder of Sylvanus Oree Owinji in Homa Bay on September 17, 2017.
Constables Bernard Maritim, Michael Ochango, Edwin Maenga, Silas Anyira, Steven Owiro and Wycliffe Cheptoo suspected that Owinji was growing and dealing in bhang and stormed his home in Kochia to arrest him.
According to IPOA, Owinji resisted arrest and the officers allegedly descended on him with beatings. He succumbed to his injuries the next day on September 18, 2017.
“During the arrest, the police officers used force and consequently, Owinji sustained injuries, which a pathologist determined to be the cause of death,” IPOA chairperson Anne Makori said in a statement.
Image: FILE
On October 28, IPOA recommended that four officers be charged with the disappearance of Philip Otieno Ondiro, who was last seen on February 1, 2015.
They are Francis Githonga, Carlistus Ekidor Apalla, Samwel Mokaya Makori and Alex Munene.
Their investigations revealed that the four, armed with guns, stormed an entertainment joint in Kiamaiko, Nairobi. They then pulled out Ondiro, bundled him into a waiting car and drove off.
“This is the first case where police officers will be charged for an enforced disappearance in the country,” Missing Voices said in an article.
On October 26, officer Jacob Ojiambo was charged with defiling a Standard 8 girl on April 14, 2019, in Kiambu. A warrant of arrest was also issued against his brother Dismas Mujibu, a civilian who is co-accused.
According to IPOA, the minor was allegedly defiled at the officer’s house within Mitahato AP camp where the officer lived with his brother, a Mathematics tutor who was well known to the girl.
In relation to other incidents that happened on November 12, 2017, and August 15, 2013, four police officers were charged with the death of two men in Nairobi and Mombasa.
Charles Mwakio and Julia Kimbiyo were charged with manslaughter, while Peter Kananu was recommended for disciplinary action. Lewis Msuya, accused of assaulting and killing Said Ibrahim, will be charged with murder.
On August 26, an inspector of police was charged with the murder of Tony Katana, a secondary school student in the Uwanja wa Mbuzi are of Kongowea, Mombasa, on August 12, 2016.
John Otieno is accused of shooting and killing Katana while dismissing a crowd in the market. Katana, aged 16, was a Form 2 student.
“The shooting was witnessed by police officers on patrol as well as some of the student’s friends who had accompanied him to a night wedding in the area,” Missing Voices officials said.
His arraignment came days after IPOA recommended that five officers implicated in the death of a matatu tout, Caleb Esipino Otieno, be arrested and charged with murder on September 9.
Otieno died in a cell at the Changamwe police station on September 18, 2018, under mysterious circumstances shortly after he was arrested and detained.
IPOA investigators named Khalifa Abdullahi, James Muli, Joseph Sirawa, Edward Kongo and Nelson Nkanae as suspects.
“He was allegedly arrested at a nightclub the previous evening, only to be found dead the following morning.
"A postmortem report indicated he had suffered multiple injuries in his head, the upper cervical spine of the neck and chest,” Missing Voices wrote.
Image: FILE
On August 18, two police officers were charged with the murder of Vitalis Owino Ochillo, alias Madaraka, on May 3, 2020, while enforcing the dusk-to-dawn curfew.
Daniel Musau and Robert Mwangi Kibororo were arrested on August 17 and placed in custody.
Owino’s widow Esther Achieng said her husband had left the house to respond to nature’s call and buy dinner but never returned.
Their arrest came a day after the arrest and arraignment of six police officers involved in the murder of the Kianjokoma brothers—Benson Njiru and Emmanuel Mutura.
Benson Mbuthia and Consolata Kariuki, Martin Wanyama, Lilian Cherono, Nicholus Sang and James Mwaniki were arraigned in Milimani to answer murder charges and were released on Sh300,000 bail each.
IPOA chairperson said the authority has employed several strategies for the swift delivery of justice for police action victims.
She said IPOA has marshalled its internal capacity, including recruitment of more staff, capacity building and setting up a dedicated rapid response team.
“We have embarked on strengthening collaboration and cooperation with key stakeholders, including the DPP and the National Police Service,” she said.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)