Officer demands damages after conviction in Sh15m robbery case collapses

‎A police officer who spent more than a year behind bars following conviction in a high-profile Sh15 million robbery case has moved to court seeking compensation for what he terms malicious prosecution, unlawful detention and damage to his career.

‎In a suit filed before the Milimani Commercial Courts, Corporal George Onyango Mtere is seeking general, special and exemplary damages from a businesswoman, a garage limited, the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

‎Mtere argues that the criminal case filed against him in 2020 led to his arrest, interdiction from the police service, imprisonment, and severe reputational damage, despite what he claims were significant flaws in the investigations and evidence.

‎The officer is seeking at least Sh1.8 million in special damages for salary losses, in addition to general damages for prosecution and reputational injury.

‎According to court papers, Mtere was among five men charged with robbery with violence over the alleged theft of USD 150,000, then said to be equivalent to Sh15 million, from the complainant along Muthithi Road in Westlands on December 7, 2020.

‎The suspects were said to have carried pistols and threatened to shoot the complainant during the incident.

‎Mtere told the court that the complainant filed a complaint against him despite, he contends, insufficient evidence to positively identify him.

‎He further points to investigators and prosecutors as having pursued charges without adequate investigations, conducting an identification process he describes as flawed and relying on electronic material he says was defective.

‎“The Plaintiff was arrested, detained and prosecuted on the basis of a complaint that was unverified,” the suit reads.

‎Court documents indicate that Mtere, who had served in the police service since 1999 and had risen to the rank of corporal in 2019, was interdicted immediately after his arrest on December 10, 2020.

‎Police authorities ordered him to surrender his uniform and government-issued equipment while he was placed on half salary pending determination of the criminal case.

‎“This in strictu sensu deprived him of the economic ability to take care of himself and his dependants,” his lawyers argue in the plaint filed through Opiyo Rodgers & Company Advocates.

‎The officer says he remained on half pay for 46 months, suffering salary losses amounting to Sh1,559,400.

‎Following conviction in April 2024, Mtere says he was suspended altogether and lost an additional Sh258,107 in salary during the seven months he remained in prison before his appeal succeeded.

‎The lower court had convicted him and sentenced him to four years in prison.

‎However, in a judgment delivered on April 28, 2025, the High Court quashed the conviction and ordered his release.

‎In the appeal judgment, Justice Alexander Muasya Muteti found inconsistencies in the identification evidence and faulted investigators for failing to conduct an identification parade.

‎“The omission by the prosecution was fatal and rendered the whole evidence on identification unsafe,” the judge ruled.

‎The High Court also found that CCTV footage used in the case had been improperly admitted because investigators failed to produce the mandatory electronic evidence certificate required under the Evidence Act.

‎“The reception of the CCTV footage in this case was therefore improper and irregular without the necessary certificate,” Justice Muteti said.

‎The judge further noted contradictions in the complainant’s testimony, observing that she initially told the court she could not recognise the robbers because they wore masks, but later sought to identify Mtere from CCTV footage.

‎“The inconsistency in her evidence was material as to render the entire evidence on identification unreliable,” the judgment stated.

‎Following the acquittal, police authorities lifted Mtere’s interdiction in August 2025 and allowed him to resume duty.

‎But the officer says the damage to his career and reputation had already been done.

‎He claims he received a warning letter after the criminal proceedings, affecting his chances of promotion within the police service.

‎“The reputation of the plaintiff has been affected,” the court documents state, adding that his employer’s confidence in him had been eroded by the prosecution and conviction.

‎In a notice of intention to sue issued earlier this year, Mtere’s lawyers also argued that the charge sheet itself was defective, pointing to discrepancies in the alleged conversion of USD 150,000 into Kenyan currency.

‎“The arrest, charging, trial and conviction of the intended Plaintiff were informed and actuated by malice and were done in bad faith,” the notice reads.