The High Court in Nyeri will on Wednesday deliver a judgement in the murder trial of a police officer who allegedly shot and killed a mason over a beer in 2015.
Police Constable Chibungu Sanga, who was formerly attached to Mukurwe-ini Police Station has been on trial for the murder of Gregory King'ori Kanyi at Kiriti Village of Mukurwe-ini in Nyeri County.
Sanga was arrested and charged following investigations and recommendations by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).
The investigations revealed that on February 22, 2015, Kanyi got into a physical fight with a police officer who was identified as Constable Huja Macharia at a bar in Mukurwe-ini town.
Some two weeks later on the night of March 7, Macharia and his three colleagues including Sanga broke into Kanyi's house, allegedly to arrest him.
That was at 3 am. Instead of effecting the arrest, 33-year-old Kanyi was shot.
Kanyi's body would be found the following morning at their coffee plantation, with a bullet wound on his chest.
The prosecution produced 14 witnesses.
Sanga was placed on defence on June 23, 2021, where he admitted shooting Kanyi.
He however claimed this was done in self-defence, saying Kanyi approached him with a panga.
The representative of the victims in the trial, International Justice Mission (IJM) - Kenya wants the court to find that Kanyi's death was unlawful.
The organisation submitted that as a police officer with training on how to use firearms, Sanga acted unlawfully and in contravention of his police training, the Service Standing Orders, and the National Police Service Act.
It adds that the officer used extremely violent means that were uncalled for.
"Although he stated that his intention was self-defence, which is disputed, we submit that the force used was excessive. He was required to use proportional force to the objective to be achieved of effecting an arrest," IJM lawyer Edward Mbanya told the court during the hearing.
IJM also poked holes into the conduct of the officers going to Kanyi's home without a warrant of arrest and doing so at midnight on a Sunday night for a crime allegedly committed two weeks previously.
It said this indicated ill intent.
IJM argues that the force used to subdue Kanyi was not commensurate with the perceived danger and exceeded the parameters set by law.
