BY SAM ALFAN.
The High Court has certified as urgent a petition by six police officers who have sought to block their prosecution over the deaths of two brothers in Embu early this month.
Vacation Judge Anthony Mrima certified the case extremely urgent and directed their lawyer Danstan Omari to serve the petition to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), and the Inspector General of Police within two days.
“The petition and the notice of motion be served upon the Respondents within 2 days and the matter be fixed for directions before the Duty Judge on September 1,2021,” directed vacation Judge Mrima.
The six police officers were arrested and detained over the deaths of the two Kianjakoma, which occurred on August 1. The duo had been arrested by police who were enforcing curfew orders.
Benson Mputhia, Consolata Kariuki, Nicholas Cheruiyot, Martin Wanyama, Lilian Chemuna and James Mwaniki moved to the High Court to challenge their planned prosecution.
They want the court to issue an order for an inquest into the deaths be conducted, instead of charging them with murder. It is their argument that the two brothers jumped from a moving police vehicle and died.
Omari further told the court that the six officers are also seeking an order for exhumation of the bodies of Benson Ndwiga and Emmanuel Ndwiga, for purposes of conducting fresh autopsy by independent pathologists.
“The autopsy on the cause of death of the two deceased brothers were conducted to the exclusion of our representation by independent pathologists of our choice,” they say in court documents.
The officers also seek to be admitted on reasonable bail or bond terms pending the conclusion of the inquest into the death of the two brothers and also they be given their mobile phones for purposes of transacting on Mpesa.
In court documents, the officers claim that the two brothers succumbed to their injuries after jumping from a police Land Cruiser while escaping arrest.
“The suspects were being ferried together in the same police van, the deceased persons in a suicidal act while escaping lawful custody jumped out of the moving police vehicle thus succumbing to injuries,” reads court documents.
In an affidavit by Cheruiyot, one of the officers, he claims that they arrested the two brothers at Kianjakoma Market while on patrol and placed them in the Land cruiser guarded by Wanyama and Cherono who are also linked to the murder.
“It is upon booking 8 arrested suspects that we learnt two of the suspects were missing since we had arrested a total of 10 suspects during our patrol,” he said in affidavit.
“At this juncture one of the suspects informed us that 2 suspects jumped out of the Police Land Cruiser and escaped while we were being driven along Mbuvori Market and Kariari Market on our way to Manyatta Police Station,” he stated in court documents.
Cheruiyot claimed that the duty officers left Manyatta Police Station to Kiriari –Mbuvori road in a spirited effort to see if they could get the two brothers to lawful custody.
“While in our search along the said road which falls on part of the route we used on our way to Manyatta Police Station, two bodies of unknown male adults were discovered lifeless with clear head injuries,” he stated.
The four officers claim they immediately notified all their commanders of the occurrence and remained at the scene guarding it from any interference.
“Later on, our Commander arrived and after their preliminary investigation traffic accident personnel came to the scene of the crime having been notified for further police action after which we returned back to the police station and where we remained for the better part of the morning,” stated Cheruiyot.
The officers claim that upon interrogation of the eight suspects booked at Manyatta Police Station, and having them record statements on what they knew, two of them indicated in their statements that they were aware that the two deceased brothers had unhooked the Land cruiser canvas and Jumped out of it as it moved.
“In fact the arrested suspect who sat right behind them saw them jump out of the moving land cruiser while the other suspect who sat adjacent to them recorded a statement to the effect that he had the sound of the fall thus corroborating each other,” he said in the affidavit.
