Ab-Titchaz
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 30, 2008
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Wakuu,
katika lile fujo lililotokea Kenya baada ya kura kuibiwa na Rais Kibaki, polisi walitumika kuua raia walokua
wanafanya maandamano, hususan wajaluo. Kuna polisi mmoja aliyechukuliwa na video akimuua kijana
mmoja wa kijaluo na kijana mmoja mtanzania mwenzetu. Polisi aliyehusika alishikwa na kutiwa nguvuni
huku akiwa na mashtaka ya kujibu. Hata hivyo miaka miwili imepita na huyu bwana kaachiwa huru eti
hana kesi ya kujibu.
Ishu tatu kuu zinajitokeza na inabidi niulize hivi:
By WAHOME THUKU
Edward Kirui, the officer who was on trial for the murder of two demonstrators during post-election demonstrations, has been acquitted.Constable Kirui escaped death over a disparity in prosecution evidence that appalled even the trial judge himself.
A mismatch by one digit in firearm serial numbers was all it required for the court to give Kirui the benefit of doubt and get him off the hook.
And Kiruis case, which started in February 2008 before now retired judge Onesmus Mutungi, was the last of such murder cases arising from the post-election violence.
No one in the four cases has been convicted, bringing to question the ability by police to conduct exhaustive investigation.
More than 1,000 people died and property worth billions of shillings destroyed countrywide.
Kirui had been charged with shooting Tanzanian Ismail Chacha and William Onyango dead during demonstrations at Kondele in Kisumu on January 16, 2008.
KTN crew filmed a lone police officer ambushing the two unarmed men and gunning them down.The officer brandished an AK47 rifle and wore jungle combat gear and helmet.
So close was Kirui to a death sentence that even as judge Fred Ochieng, who took over the case from Mutungi, got to the end of the judgment, it was clear that Kirui was headed for the gallows.
The verdict turned on the point that Kiruis AK47 rifle serial number 23008378 was different from a similar gun number 3008378 that was examined and identified as having shot the two demonstrators.
Shortly after the shooting, Kirui was disarmed by his immediate boss, Chief Inspector Kaloki. His gun serial number 23008378 was identified and produced in court by Kaloki.
One issued to him
In his statement, Kirui confirmed that the AK47 rifle number 23008378 in court was actually the one issued to him around that time.
Records from Kondele police station bore him out.
But the gun taken to the firearms examiner at the CID headquarters by the investigators was serial number 3008378, according to documents produced in court.
Johnston Mwongela, the examiner, confirmed this number. That gun was never produced in court.
Police even traced a bullet head extracted from Onyangos body to the firearms 3008378 that was examined by Mr Mwongela.
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Dorcas Oduor and State counsel Victor Mule headed State prosecution.
Some 22 witnesses were called.Mutungi heard 19 of them before he retired in May last year. Ochieng heard the last three.The prosecution proved everything else but failed to prove how Kiruis gun bore two separate serial numbers.
In his defence, Kirui had denied having been anywhere near the shooting scene.He called a colleague as his witness that he wore his blue uniform and not jungle uniform.He argued that no identification parade was organised.
One witness, David Wafula, told the court it was Kirui who shot the two men. He said he knew the officer before the incident and saw him shoot at the two demonstrators.He said he identified Kirui only when he lifted the cover of the police helmet and revealed part of his face.
But due to the helmet, Kirui could not be identified from the video clip by the civilian witnesses or the other police officers.
Justice Ochieng on several occasions pointed out that he had not heard the benefit of hearing evidence of 19 witnesses who testified before Mutungi. He did not observe the witnesses to judge their demeanor in court.
Justice Ochieng said he had even checked with Justice Mutungis handwritten notes to prove that the inconsistency in gun numbers was not a typing error.
The judge questioned how the serial numbers could have changed and whether the gun was changed with another. "Who changed the firearms, at what stage and for what reasons?" he asked.
The Standard | Online Edition :: Officer not guilty of killing Kisumu demonstrators&
katika lile fujo lililotokea Kenya baada ya kura kuibiwa na Rais Kibaki, polisi walitumika kuua raia walokua
wanafanya maandamano, hususan wajaluo. Kuna polisi mmoja aliyechukuliwa na video akimuua kijana
mmoja wa kijaluo na kijana mmoja mtanzania mwenzetu. Polisi aliyehusika alishikwa na kutiwa nguvuni
huku akiwa na mashtaka ya kujibu. Hata hivyo miaka miwili imepita na huyu bwana kaachiwa huru eti
hana kesi ya kujibu.
Ishu tatu kuu zinajitokeza na inabidi niulize hivi:
- 1. Je polisi wa Kenya waliohusika na uchunguzi ilikuaje mpaka wakaboronga hii kesi? Kwa mujibu wa jaji aliyesimamia hii kesi, bunduki iliowasilishwa mahakamani kua ni silaha aliotumia afisa Kirui haiafikiani na bunduki iliopelekwa kwa mkaguzi wa serikali. So did somebody switch the guns purposefully?
- 2. Je, ushahidi wa video iliochukuliwa na ripota wa shirika la KTN hauwezi kutumika mahakamani?
- 3. Je serikali ya Tanzania, inafuatilia hii ishu ili haki itendeke kwa raia wa nchi yake ama wamelala kama kawaida yao na ishu kama hizi?
Officer not guilty of killing Kisumu demonstrators
Edward Kirui patiently listen to judge Fred Ochieng read the verdict at the Nairobi Law Courts yesterday, not knowing he would be a free man shortly
By WAHOME THUKU
Edward Kirui, the officer who was on trial for the murder of two demonstrators during post-election demonstrations, has been acquitted.Constable Kirui escaped death over a disparity in prosecution evidence that appalled even the trial judge himself.
A mismatch by one digit in firearm serial numbers was all it required for the court to give Kirui the benefit of doubt and get him off the hook.
And Kiruis case, which started in February 2008 before now retired judge Onesmus Mutungi, was the last of such murder cases arising from the post-election violence.
No one in the four cases has been convicted, bringing to question the ability by police to conduct exhaustive investigation.
More than 1,000 people died and property worth billions of shillings destroyed countrywide.
Kirui had been charged with shooting Tanzanian Ismail Chacha and William Onyango dead during demonstrations at Kondele in Kisumu on January 16, 2008.
KTN crew filmed a lone police officer ambushing the two unarmed men and gunning them down.The officer brandished an AK47 rifle and wore jungle combat gear and helmet.
So close was Kirui to a death sentence that even as judge Fred Ochieng, who took over the case from Mutungi, got to the end of the judgment, it was clear that Kirui was headed for the gallows.
The verdict turned on the point that Kiruis AK47 rifle serial number 23008378 was different from a similar gun number 3008378 that was examined and identified as having shot the two demonstrators.
Shortly after the shooting, Kirui was disarmed by his immediate boss, Chief Inspector Kaloki. His gun serial number 23008378 was identified and produced in court by Kaloki.
One issued to him
In his statement, Kirui confirmed that the AK47 rifle number 23008378 in court was actually the one issued to him around that time.
Records from Kondele police station bore him out.
But the gun taken to the firearms examiner at the CID headquarters by the investigators was serial number 3008378, according to documents produced in court.
Johnston Mwongela, the examiner, confirmed this number. That gun was never produced in court.
Police even traced a bullet head extracted from Onyangos body to the firearms 3008378 that was examined by Mr Mwongela.
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Dorcas Oduor and State counsel Victor Mule headed State prosecution.
Some 22 witnesses were called.Mutungi heard 19 of them before he retired in May last year. Ochieng heard the last three.The prosecution proved everything else but failed to prove how Kiruis gun bore two separate serial numbers.
In his defence, Kirui had denied having been anywhere near the shooting scene.He called a colleague as his witness that he wore his blue uniform and not jungle uniform.He argued that no identification parade was organised.
One witness, David Wafula, told the court it was Kirui who shot the two men. He said he knew the officer before the incident and saw him shoot at the two demonstrators.He said he identified Kirui only when he lifted the cover of the police helmet and revealed part of his face.
But due to the helmet, Kirui could not be identified from the video clip by the civilian witnesses or the other police officers.
Justice Ochieng on several occasions pointed out that he had not heard the benefit of hearing evidence of 19 witnesses who testified before Mutungi. He did not observe the witnesses to judge their demeanor in court.
Justice Ochieng said he had even checked with Justice Mutungis handwritten notes to prove that the inconsistency in gun numbers was not a typing error.
The judge questioned how the serial numbers could have changed and whether the gun was changed with another. "Who changed the firearms, at what stage and for what reasons?" he asked.
The Standard | Online Edition :: Officer not guilty of killing Kisumu demonstrators&
