Safaricom data places Murangiri at Nairobi CBD, court told

Safaricom PLC manager on Monday linked a mobile phone number registered to Isaiah Murangiri to activity within Nairobi’s Central Business District despite his earlier testimony in court that he had stopped using the line a year ago.

Murangiri is one of the witnesses in Rex Masai's shooting inquest.

Testifying before Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo at the Milimani Law Courts, Safaricom’s senior manager Zachary Kirogoi Mburu told the court that the company had received two court orders compelling it to produce call data records and geographical location details.

Mburu said the records covered three phone numbers registered under Benson Kamau, Murangiri, and Michael Oginga Okello.

He explained that Safaricom’s logs showed the numbers were active between June 18 and June 20, 2024, with signals picked from masts covering Wincer House, Accra House, Kencom, St. Ellis, KBC Towers and Hill Town.

When asked about the distance required for a subscriber to be captured by a Safaricom site, Mburu explained: “The subscriber must be within the coverage radius and the site that is available will pick it. Murangiri may not have moved, but Kencom still captured his signal.”

He clarified that the coverage radius depended on several factors, including the density of network sites within Nairobi’s CBD.

“Within Nairobi CBD, the coverage radius is approximately five kilometres, which explains why Kencom picked him,” he said.

The prosecution argued that Mburu’s evidence directly contradicted Murangiri’s account, giving the State ammunition to show that the call logs placed him within the city centre during the material period.

Senior Superintendent of Police Alex Mutindi Mwandawiro, a ballistic expert based at the DCI headquarters, also testified that on July 1, 2024, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) delivered a package for examination through investigator Paul Njihia.

Mwandawiro said the exhibit was a damaged bullet jacket weighing 0.83 grams, which he identified as part of a 5.56mm rifle round.

He explained that the bullet had likely struck a hard surface, bending and fragmenting before recovery.

He told the court that when he compared the fragment with firearms forwarded for analysis, he found no match.

“The jacket was from live ammunition, but the bullet core was missing. When I compared it with the firearms presented for analysis, none matched,” Mwandawiro told the court

The expert further noted that the three pistols were supplied by the DCI Central armoury, but not the Ceska F7226 pistol listed in IPOA’s memo.

He added that rifles available to the National Police Service and Kenya Wildlife Service, such as Chalbi rifles and AK-101s, were also excluded because they fire different calibres.

Mwandawiro concluded that the findings were inconclusive because the firearms supplied were of different calibres, and the bullet jacket did not match the pistols presented. 

“The findings were inconclusive because the firearms supplied were of different calibres, and the bullet jacket did not match any of the pistols presented,” he said.

He added that the recovered copper jacket was from live ammunition, though the missing bullet core could not be traced.

The magistrate directed the matter to proceed on September 25, 2025, at 2 pm, when further witnesses are expected to testify.

Rex was shot during the June 2024 protests along Moi Avenue in Nairobi, where demonstrators were rallying against the Finance Bill. 

The demonstrations turned chaotic after police clashed with protesters, leaving several people dead and others injured.

His shooting was among the incidents that drew public outrage and intensified calls for accountability over the use of excessive force by security agencies.