Six wardens suspected of aiding three terror convicts to escape from Kamiti maximum prison will be detained for eight days, the court has ruled.
Kahawa law courts principal magistrate Boaz Ombare said 30 days was too long. The prosecution wanted to detain the suspects for one month.
The six are Kamiti prison boss Charles Mutembei, his deputy Joseph Loklari and junior officers Pamela Cherubet, Peter Thuku, Lilian Mukasia and Nicholas Otieno.
The officers were manning the CCTV and the watchtowers on the night of November 14, when Musharraf Abdalla Akhulunga a.k.a Zarkarawi, Mohammed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo serving jail terms for terrorism-related crimes broke from the prison.
In a sworn affidavit on Friday, chief inspector Meshak Kegara from the DCI Serious Crime Unit told the magistrate that the investigations he was undertaking were complex and thus required adequate time.
Key among the reasons the investigating officer gave to dissuade the court from granting the suspects bail was interference with the probe.
He said their position and relations with colleagues makes it possible to meddle with their investigations.
Kegara also said the DCI required enough time to analyse CCTV footage from Kamiti and obtain call data of the suspects to unravel details around the prison break.
He told the court that the six were allegedly negligent and had aided the escape of the terror convicts from prison.
Lawyer Danston Omari, who led the defence team, had objected to the application by the prosecution and asked the court to throw it out.
“This is pyrrhic victory, where the rich get richer while the poor get prison. If this was genuine, where is Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and IG Hillary Mutyambai?” he asked.
Omari said the regular application by the police to hold the suspects longer under the pretext of completing investigations is pure malice.
“They do not need the suspects while conducting forensic examinations. This is a witch hunt.
“The suspects' electronic gadgets have been confiscated and there is no way they can interfere with witnesses or investigation because they have no way of accessing the office,” he said.
Matiang'i last Monday said preliminary investigations suggested the escape was abetted by laxity and incompetence. He vowed to ensure more arrests and prosecutions.
The DCI had put a Sh60 million bounty on the heads of the terrorists.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
