Court issues arrest warrant against OCS over rape case at police station

A warrant of arrest has been issued against a top police officer at a station where a woman is said to have been raped.

Tigania Resident Magistrate Paul Wechuli issued the warrant against Mulika station commander (OCS) Simon Raziki and Constable Hirbo Siko after they defied summons issued against them on Tuesday.

Constable Siko is the investigating officer in a case where the woman is accused of malicious damage.

The two officers were summoned over the rape claims and failure to present police cash bail in court.

The court Tuesday directed Tigania East police boss Charles Koskey to make the arrests. The case is to be mentioned Wednesday to confirm the arrest.

Detectives from Tigania East directorate of criminal investigations were also directed to visit the cells where the accused was locked up and present a report before the magistrate Wednesday.

Raziki and Siko were scheduled to tell the court why they booked a suspect in custody while she had deposited Sh30,000 police cash bail and issued a receipt.

The OCS was also to shed light on the rape claims and help to identify the officers accused of rape.

On Thursday, Stella Kinya told Mr Wechuli that officers based at the Mulika Police Station in Tigania Central spiked the milk they served her before raping her.

Kinya, who had been locked up at the station on Monday last week for malicious damage, said she was later released on police bail pending appearance in court.

The suspect is accused of destroying a mattress, assorted clothes and three plastic containers worth Sh70,000 belonging to her husband Henry Kaberia Karumpa who reported the matter to police.

However, the next day when she appeared at the court to plead to the charges, she was told police had not brought her file in court.

When she went to the station to inquire about the file, she was re-arrested and locked alone in a separate cell.

'DRUGGED AND RAPED'

Defence lawyer Kennedy Nyamokeri accused police of drugging his client before raping her and failing to present the cash bail in court.

Mr Nyamokeri said the accused woke up in a police cell and realised she had been sexually assaulted by the officers who gave her a packet of milk laced with sedatives.

The lawyer had applied that the OCS be summoned in court to identify the rogue officers. He also wanted the officers to explain why they did not present the cash bail that his client deposited at the station.

“l have information that the OCS is even aware of the heinous act by the officers in the station. This kind of things should not be happening in modern Kenya,” said Mr Nyamokeri.

After taking plea, Mr Wechuli had to release Kinya on free bond so that she could undergo treatment at the Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital.