The inquest into the death of Rex Kanyike continued with testimony from a police officer in charge of firearms issuance at Central Police Station and a government analyst before Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo at the Milimani law courts.
Corporal Fredrick Odera Okapesi, the officer in charge of the armoury at Central Police Station, where he has served for more than 25 years, admitted there were errors in the records kept during the June 2024 demonstrations.
Okapesi explained that he is responsible for recording the issuance and return of firearms in the arms movement register.
He told the court that Benson Kamau was issued a firearm and later returned it to Corporal Martin Githinji on June 18, 2024.
The officer acknowledged making alterations and double entries to fill blank spaces, confirming that some names and signatures were overwritten.
He said these were oversights but insisted they were not deliberate attempts to mislead.
“It is human to make mistakes, and I am human,” Okapesi told the court.
“One or two errors should not make the register inaccurate.”
He further clarified that entries suggesting Corporal Isaiah Murangiri had been issued a firearm were later scrapped, insisting that Murangiri had only been given a teargas canister and not a gun.
During cross-examination, Prosecutor Makori asked: “If Corporal Murangiri was found with a firearm, is it possible that he obtained it from another police station? Is it possible for an officer to be issued with a firearm from a different police station?”
Okapesi responded that such issuance would only be possible if authorised by a subcounty police commander.
IPOA’s counsel David Tenge pressed further, questioning inconsistencies in the armoury register.
“Why is there no consistency when it comes to filling the arms movement registry?” he asked.
He also challenged Okapesi on whether the records were manipulated to shield officers.
“Is it possible that there were errors in the arms movement registry to protect Corporal Isaiah Murangiri?”
Okapesi denied any deliberate cover-up and said it was not possible for one officer to sign out a firearm on behalf of another.
The officer also told the court that while Murangiri claimed he was only issued teargas canisters, the registry showed he received rubber bullets.
He noted that teargas canisters are not stored in the armoury because of their volatile nature.
Shown photographs allegedly depicting Murangiri during the June protests, Okapesi said he could not confirm the identity.
“Unless they are produced physically before me, I cannot identify who is who,” he told Tenge, noting that both Murangiri and Kamau were light-skinned.
The court also heard testimony from Henry Kiptoo Sang, a forensic analyst attached to the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) in Nairobi.
Sang told the court that on June 24, 2024, he received several exhibits from IPOA for DNA examination, including three swab sticks, a soil sample, and a blood sample labeled “Rex Kanyike (deceased)”, all accompanied by an exhibit memo of the same date.
He testified that laboratory tests confirmed the blood sample was of human origin, while the soil sample also tested positive for human blood but was too decomposed to yield a DNA profile.
He concluded that DNA profiles generated from the swab sticks matched that of the deceased. An official report of the findings was prepared and filed as an exhibit.
“The soil samples were stained with human blood but were decomposed, making it impossible to generate a DNA profile,” Sang said.
"I prepared an official report, which I submitted to the court as an exhibit,”he added.
The inquest will proceed on September 15, 2025.
Rex, 29, was killed during the anti-Finance Bill demonstrations in Nairobi on June 20, 2024.
He was shot in the thigh along Moi Avenue while participating in the protests and later succumbed to the injuries after excessive bleeding.
