- The officers drawn from SSU, DCI, NIS and KWS were arraigned during which they denied seventeen counts of offences.
- The offences ranged from abduction to commit murder, cooperation in the execution of cruel treatment, conspiracy to commit a felony, and forgery among others.
Image: CROLYNE KUBWA
Fifteen police officers accused of being behind the disappearance of two Indians and their Kenyan taxi driver have been charged before a Kahawa Law Court.
The officers drawn from SSU, DCI, NIS and KWS were arraigned during which they denied seventeen counts of offences.
The offences ranged from abduction to commit murder, cooperation in the execution of cruel treatment, conspiracy to commit a felony, and forgery among others.
This comes after the prosecution closed their miscellaneous application of last year.
The DPP said investigations proved that all suspects were linked to the disappearance of the three people except one Francis Muendo Ndonye who was released unconditionally.
The accused persons include Chief Inspector Peter Muthee, Inspector James Kibosek, Corporals Joseph Kamau, David Chepcheng, Joseph Mwenda, John Mwangi and Hilary Limo, Constables Stephen Luseno, Simon Muhuga, Paul Njogu, Boniface Otieno, Elkana Njeru, Fredrick Thuku, John Wanjiku Macharia and Warden Michael Kiplangat.
Appearing before senior principal magistrate Boaz Ombewa on Tuesday, officers Muthee, Kibosek, Kamau, Chepcheng, Luseno, Muhuga and Macharia were charged with the first count of abducting two Indian men namely Mohammed Zaid Sami Kidwai and Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan.
The charge sheet states that on July 22 and 23 in Nairobi, the accused persons while on board motor vehicles KDD 632j, KDG 836X, KDH 262S and GKB 809U and other unknown vehicles, with intent to abduct, trailed and intercepted a motor vehicle with intent to cause Mohammed who is an Indian national, who was an occupant, to be secretly and wrongfully abducted or maybe murdered or put in danger of being murdered.
The seven faced another count of abducting Nicodemus Mwange who was driving the said motor vehicle to be wrongfully abducted or put in danger of being murdered on the same dates and place.
The 15 faced an offence of jointly conspiring to commit a felony known as abduction with intent to murder Mohammed, Khan and Mwange.
The court heard, that John Macharia while being a member of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), subjected Mohammed, Khan and Mwange to inhumane, cruel and degrading treatment.
Chief inspector Muthee is alone accused of forging a work ticket for motor vehicle GKB 809U for July 2022, purporting that the handwriting belonged to Francis Muendo Ndonye with intent to deceive.
Muthee, Kamau, Chepcheng, Luseno and Muhuga were charged that being public servants in the defunct special services unit (SSU) of the DCI, with others not mentioned, they committed cruel treatment to Mohammed and Khan by intercepting their motor vehicle.
The prosecution said they forcefully ejected and bundled them in another vehicle before subjecting them to confinement at Old Nairobi Area police headquarters SSU offices in Upper Hill without regard to their lives and security and ultimately causing their enforced disappearance.
They are alleged to have committed the offence on July 23 last year between 0103hrs and 0107hrs along Southern Bypass along Mombasa road near Ole Sereni hotel.
The 15 accused persons were also charged that being public servants in the defunct special services unit (SSU), DCI, NIS, and KWS, they cooperated in the execution of the cruel treatment of Mohammed Khan and Mwange thereby causing their enforced disappearance.
The accused persons through their lawyers led by Kirathe Wandugi, Clinton Mwale, and Martina Swiga among others asked the court to grant them lenient bond terms stating that they are still civil servants.
All the accused were admitted to free bonds in December last year and have adhered to the terms of bail, Wandugi said.
The 15th accused (Warden Kiplangat) was summoned to the operation internal affairs unit surrendered himself and was given a bond of Sh10,000. He was not in the miscellaneous application.
Wandugi said the prosecution seeks to deny the accused persons bail as they have been served with a 40-page affidavit.
"Your honour all charges are bailable unless compelling reasons are shown and not all the accused persons are facing similar charges," Wandugi said.
The DPP through the prosecution counsel Michael Sang asked the court to deny the accused persons bond stating that they may abscond court proceedings.
The prosecution further says the accused persons are facing serious charges and there is fear that they may interfere with intended witnesses.