Officer Ahmed Rashid in Kibera Law Courts on August 19, 2025/JAMES GICHIGI
Prosecution witness Joseph Omwenga, a DCI officer who took part in the early stages of the investigation, testified on Tuesday that his team requested four firearms as part of the probe into the incident in which two young men were shot dead along Eastleigh First Avenue.
He said the request was made through a letter to the Starehe OCPD on April 11, 2017, alongside a demand for Corporal Rashid’s pocket phone and other records.
According to Omwenga, three guns were surrendered, but a fourth was never produced.
He admitted under cross-examination that documents before him, including the arms movement register, did not show who had been assigned the missing firearm.
Defence lawyer Danstan Omari pressed the officer repeatedly to identify the weapon and its assigned officer.
“Show me the gun that was not issued. Was it ever accounted for?” Omari asked as he walked the witness through the documentation.
Omwenga responded that the records shown before him did not show the weapon.
Omari argued that the failure to account for all the guns raised doubts about the integrity of the investigation, particularly given that a bullet recovered from one of the deceased was later confirmed by ballistics experts to be of 9mm caliber.
“You asked for four guns, but one is missing. How then can this court be certain which weapon fired the fatal shot?” Omari pressed.
However, the witness maintained that the investigation team did what was within its mandate, preparing an exhibit memo form on April 6, 2017, and forwarding exhibits for analysis.
“In a letter to OCPD, we requested the production of
Corporal Rashid’s pocket phone as of March 31, together with three pistols. I asked
for four firearms.
In response, one of the firearms was not produced, and
the pocket phone was also not issued, except that a copy of its issuance letter was
provided," he stated.
He added that his work was limited to preliminary investigations before the matter was taken over by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).
The defence also questioned whether all cartridges linked to the firearms had been examined, but Omwenga said he relied on information provided by the OCS and did not personally receive every cartridge.
The Pangani-based officer is facing charges of murder of two teenagers, namely Jamal Mohammed and Mohammed Dhair Kheri in March 2017.
The hearing continues on August 20, 2025.
