Graphic crime scene photos shown at Mavoko 3 murder trial
A crime scene investigator on Friday tabled horrifying photographs of a victim suspected to have been killed by Syokimau Administration Police officers, last year.
Constable Bernard Kiplagat Serem said he took the photographs on July 1, after one of the bodies was seen floating at Athi River near, Donyo Sabuk Police Station in Machakos.
He said the body was stashed in a gunny bag and a diver helped retrieve it from the River. The officer said he took the photos before and after the body was pulled out of the water.
TORTURED
After removing it from the bag, he took the more photos, including one of the victim, naked. The body was later identified as that of boda boda operator, Josephat Mwenda.
It is clear that Mr Mwenda underwent barbaric torture before he was strangled to death. Several parts of the body and head had been hit by blunt object and his face, was covered with a plastic bag.
Four AP officers, Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Chebulet, Leonard Maina, and Silvia Wanjiku and an informer Peter Ngugi, have been charged with the murders of Mwenda, his lawyer Willy Kimani and taxi driver Mr Joseph Muiruri.
Mr Kimani, an advocate with International Justice Mission, Mr Mwenda and Mr Muiruri disappeared on June 23, 2016, after attending a court hearing at Mavoko Law courts.
Serem told Lady Justice Jessie Lesiit that six days after retrieving the body, he was asked to accompany his colleagues to one of the suspects’ house where he also took photos. He said they went to Sergeant Maina’s house, near Mlolongo police station after some items linking him to the deaths, were recovered in his house.
But the officer was taken to task by the defence lawyers including Cliff Ombetta, to show how the items were linked to the murders.
Mr Serem also said he was the one who dusted and photographed the container, in which the three murdered victims, were locked in the fateful day. He, however, said he did not find fingerprints or even footprints inside the cell.
Another witness, Jackson Owino said he was the one who recovered Muiruri’s vehicle in Kamirithu area, Kimabu County on the night of June 23 and 24, 2016. He said he was on patrol at that night when his boss called informing him of an abandoned vehicle. The vehicle, KBX 126C, was the one the three were using before they were kidnapped.
The officer said he towed the vehicle to Tigoni Police station on that night. The hearing was adjourned to Monday, July 17.
