Slain Muslim cleric Sheikh Aboud Rogo was killed by a lone gunman, revealed an inquest into his assassination.
A ballistics expert forwarded to the inquest told a Mombasa court yesterday
that bullets recovered from the crime scene on the day of the shooting were fired from the same gun – a high caliber rifle.
Alex Muhindi, who heads the Nairobi-based CID forensic laboratory, dispelled earlier reports that a special firearm not available to Kenyan security was used in the assassination.
Muhindi said he conducted microscopic examinations of 16 cartridges recovered from the shooting scene and concluded that they were 7.62 mm bullets, fired from an AK47 assault rifle.
He said he wrote his forensic report in September 7,
two weeks after Rogo was gunned down on the Mombasa-Malindi highway.
Inspector Benedict Kigen, the former Kisauni CID boss,
also testified as the second witness in the public inquest that seeks to unravel the shooting of the Islamic cleric.
Kigen, who was among the first police officers on the scene, said he met Rogo’s father-in-law holding the sheikh's limp body inside a private van.
The van had veered off the road after gunmen shot Rogo, who was driving his wife and relatives to Bomu Hospital.
Kigen said Rogo’s ally, Abubakar Shariff alias Makaburi, led a group of rowdy youths who obstructed detectives from collecting important evidence.
Kigen said Makaburi was involved in the removal of Rogo's body from the crime scene, hampering efforts to rescue and also treat injured persons.
Rogo’s wife Haniya Saida who was seated behind the driver’s seat, was shot in the knee.
The now Migori CID boss told the inquest that detectives at the Kisauni CID office had failed to identify Rogo’s killers, three years after he was killed.
A task force formed by President Uhuru Kenyatta to investigate Rogo’s murder said it was unable to identify his killers and instead recommended that the public inquest be opened.
Acting chief magistrate Maxwell Gicheru issued summons against six remaining witnesses, including two doctors and also former Kisauni OCPD Julius Wanjohi.