He also complained that he had been held in custody without any order of the court for seven days which violated his Constitutional right as an arrested person.
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A robbery with violence suspect who was held for more than 24 hours and allegedly injected with a substance has been freed.
The suspect had been held at Ugunja police cell where claimed to have been injected with a substance that has affected his health.
He was released by court and directed to file a complaint against the police at Independent Policing Authority.
Collins Otieno Onyango alias Ojis was charged with the offence of robbery with violence after being arrested on December 20, 2022.
He was then held in police custody for seven days without any order of the court allowing the police to detain him for investigations.
He told High Court Judge Roselyn Aburili that he was brought to court on December 28, 2022 after the Christmas and boxing day extended gazetted public holiday.
When he appeared before court for his robbery case, he complained that he had been tortured by the police and injected with an unknown substance and was therefore not feeling well.
He also complained that he had been held in custody without any order of the court for seven days which violated his Constitutional right as an arrested person.
When the parties appeared before Justice Aburili, she directed the ODPP to be served with the petition and requested for time to enable the investigating officer and arresting officer file affidavits explaining what transpired.
As it turned out, the two officers, Corporal Nyabura purported to swear an affidavit which was not sworn at all as it simply had no stamp of ODPP Siaya where the stamp and signature for Commissioner for Oaths is supposed to be.
The officer, however, took oath and stated what he knew about the matter.
Police Constable Alvin Korir too purported to have sworn an affidavit which was not sworn before a commissioner for oaths.
He conceded before court that he never saw the advocate who commissioned his affidavit and when the court issued summons to that advocate called Kennedy Ochieng Omolo of Siaya to appear, the officer could not trace the said advocate.
He returned the unserved summons to court. The court struck out and expunged the affidavit from the court record.
On January 30, the court noted that it was not in dispute that the accused person was arrested on December 20, 2022 and was never taken to court or leave of court sought and obtained to detain him for more than 24 hours.
The judge said there was no justifiable explanation for the accused to have been detained in police custody for all those days when the courts were open and available to grant any orders that the police could have sought.
The court noted that Onyango had laid various accusation against the police officers, and which can be subject to in-depth investigation by IPOA after he is attended to medically.
Onyango claimed that he was injected with an unknown substance while at Ugunja Police Station, which has adversely affected his health.
"In the circumstances, I find and hold that this is a clear case where the rights of the accused person have been violated with impunity by the officers at Ugunja Police Station", the judge said.
The judge found that the appropriate order to issue is to issue a Judicial Review Order of Certiorari quashing the decision of the ODPP Siaya to charge the accused person with the offence of robbery with violence.
In addition, she ordered that the National Police Service and ODPP be prohibited from arresting and charging the accused person with the offence related to the robbery with violence or any other offence whose facts relate to the violation of his rights.
"Consequently, I hereby order that the petitioner herein shall forthwith be released from custody. Regarding the alleged injection of unknown substance, the petitioner is at liberty to report to IPOA for further investigations", Justice Aburili ruled.