• In an application seeking to stop their prosecution over the incident, the officers claim they were only discharging their mandated roles.
• They claim that there were approximately 1,500 persons rioting who appeared agitated and they surrounded the GSU officers and began throwing stones.
Image: KURGAT MARINDANY
Nine GSU officers who are expected to face murder charges for the Masimba shooting in June this year want the court to stop their prosecution.
The officers include their commander at the time Cornelio Tokoyi, John Njoroge, Zakayo Kurere, Hosea Chikara, Mohammed Qalla, Kipkorir Wesley Sigisin, Adan Kassim and Wambua Kilonzo.
The officers were ordered to appear before IPOA tomorrow in relation to the Masimba shooting and they are likely to be charged with the murder of four people.
In an application seeking to stop their prosecution over the incident, the officers have narrated the events that led to the death of the said victims.
They claim they were only discharging their mandated roles.
The officers further asked the court to stop IPOA and the DPP from interfering with the discharge of their mandate in relation to the Masimba incident.
Through Lawyer Danstan Omari, the officers claim that on June 1 they were given the duty of escorting money from Mombasa to Nairobi on the De La Rue consignment and the operation was headed by Tokoyi
The officers say they transported the money safely to Nairobi without any incidents and handed it over to the company.
It is on their way back to their Mombasa base that they found themselves in what they allege as confrontation with Maasai demonstrators who had blocked the road.
According to court papers, on their way back at around 1pm upon reaching Masimba centre, just after Emali, they found a huge traffic jam which was not moving.
Tokoyi advised the police officers to put on a siren, which is normally used for emergency because his officers had been working all day and night and had not yet rested nor had any sleep.
“However, after about approximately 500 metres into the traffic; they were unable to proceed since it was barricaded with stones, logs and bonfires,” the application reads.
They claim that there were approximately 1,500 persons rioting and they appeared agitated.
They said the persons surrounded the GSU officers and began throwing stones.
“The sight of the mob and rioters were heavily armed whereas most of them if not all had bows, arrows, rungus, pangas and weapons of any sort fashionable that were capable of causing grievous harm,” they claim.
It is their further claim that the rioters were visibly angry and had taken charge of the scene.
They said some had positioned themselves on top of trees armed with bows and arrows, screaming from their lungs and chanting in their local dialect ready to attack the cops.
“Since the mob outnumbered the applicants, and on first instance assessment of the situation, the applicants’ drivers were unable to either reverse the motor vehicles nor could they move the vehicles forward,” the court papers read.
The officers alighted from the vehicles even as the crowd continued throwing stones at them and that was when ..instructed one of his officers to fire a bullet in the air to scare the rioters.
“Kassim was hit by a weapon that could not be identified at the time since it was fast. It could have been a panga, stone or a rungu. He fell unconscious and his riffle fell aside,” they said.
It is their claim that the pressure and the situation was getting worse and upon site that the applicants team was getting overwhelmed; they were forced to all fire one round of ammunition in the air in a bid to disperse the mob and rioters.
The officers have also claimed that of great public interest was that at the time of the confrontation, there were more than 100 highly flammable petrol tankers and trucks, which were close to the scene where the bonfires were still ablaze.
It is alleged that there were also more than 100 passenger vehicles still stuck in traffic, who were also being hit by the rioters.
“In view of public interest of the civilians trapped in traffic jam together with the highly flammable petrol tanks; we had to fire in the air to push them further away to avoid more casualties,” they claim
They say when they reached Mombasa, they went to Jocham Hospital where those with severe injuries were treated and Kassim was admitted.
They reported the incident in their OB and further briefed their immediate boss of the earlier incident in Masimba.
However, it was later in the news, where they saw a report that GSU officers had killed four people.