Police tried to derail investigations to save colleague, court told

What you need to know:

  • Investigating officer Oliver Nabonwe says name of Constable Kelvin Sikolia, who had been at crime scene, had been left out of the report.

  • The former was testifying against Officer Salim Mohamed, who has been charged with murdering Margaret Njeri by hitting her on head with gun.

Police from Mpeketoni in Lamu tried to derail investigations to save a colleague accused of killing a 22-year-old motorcycle passenger, Margaret Njeri.

On Tuesday, investigating officer Oliver Nabonwe told the High Court in Malindi that the January 17, 2015 death was entered at Mpeketoni Police Station’s occurrence book misrepresented as a ‘‘self-involved serious accident’’ that had occurred at Sikomani.

“The OB 36/17/1/2015 report had eight names of police officers and the victim, Margaret Njeri,” he told Malindi Resident Judge Said Chitembwe.

The name of Police Constable Kelvin Sikolia, who had been at the crime scene, had been left out of the report, he added.

Constable Nabonwe was testifying against Officer Salim Mohamed, who has been charged with murdering Margaret Njeri by hitting her with a G3 rifle on the head. The constable said officers visited the scene in a Land Cruiser driven by a Police Constable Omondi in the company of Mpeketoni OCS Ellam Esendi, DCI Samuel Ngeiywa, a Sergeant Ngeiywa and a Corporal Musyoka. “The scene was photographed and I also drew sketch maps as well as a fair plan,” he testified. Mr Nabonwe said on conducting further investigations, he found out that “OB 36’’ was a cover up to conceal evidence. He said investigations established that nine police officers and the accused, Salim Mohamed, were on official patrol duty enforcing a curfew at about 6pm in Mpeketoni on the fateful day.

‘ALL ARMED’

“They were all armed with firearms at Sikomani along Mpeketoni-Uziwa Road, when they stopped and arrested a motorist, Mr Paul Maina, who was carrying two passengers, a mother and her daughter,” he added. Later, he said the accused, together with Mr Sikolia, stopped a motorcycle rider, Mr George Wachira, who was heading to Uziwa from Mpeketoni town with Margaret Njeri as a passenger.

“When Mr Wachira saw the police, he sped off,” Constable Nabonwe told the court. He added: “When the accused realised the man had defied orders to stop, he rushed to the road and extended his G3 rifle in order to stop the rider.”

According to the investigations officer, the gun missed Mr Wachira and hit his passenger who fell off the speeding motorcycle and lay unconscious on the road, bleeding profusely.

Officer Nabonwe testified that the accused policeman later gave a conflicting report, claiming he heard something hitting his rifle, a statement that was refuted by colleagues who were present at the scene. The court heard that the accused later escaped and his G3 rifle loaded with 20 rounds of ammunition was recovered at his home. He later showed up at DCIO Malindi offices accompanied by his lawyer. The case will be mentioned on Wednesday.