APs on death row let off the hook

Many residents of Kawangware in Nairobi still remember the killing of seven taxi drivers in March 2010.

They found the bodies of the seven lying near a petrol station in the estate when they woke up. Some taxi drivers and motorcyclists had witnessed the killings the previous night.

The victims were Mr Harry Gideon Thuku, Mr James Mugweru Mwangi, Mr Joseph Maina Mwangi, Mr George Ng’ang’a Thairu, Mr William Gitonga Njau, Mr Joseph Ngugi Chege and Mr Joseph Thiong’o Njoroge.

Six Administration Police officers were charged with killing the taxi drivers.

On December 18, 2012, Mr Justice Fred Ochieng’ sentenced the six — Ahmed Mohamed Omar, Ahmed Abdalla Shaffi, Michael Ngungu Lewa, Moses Lochich, Nelson Kipchirchir Too and Erick Ebeere Melchizedek — to death.

The court had been told that there had been a disagreement between taxi drivers and motorcyclists over lower fares charged by boda boda operators.

As fate would have it, the seven taxi drivers were caught up in the confrontation that ended in the shootout.

The police officers in the case were aged between 23 and 27.

Mr Alex Mutisya Muteti, who had been charged alongside the six officers, was acquitted.

Although human life cannot be replaced, the conviction of the officers brought some relief to the families of the taxi drivers, but only for a short while.

The officers moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge their conviction. Some of them were represented by lawyers Kioko Kilukumi and John Khaminwa, while Ms Jacinta Nyamosi, an assistant director of prosecution, represented the State.

SELF-DEFENCE

Appellate judges Erastus Githinji, Daniel Musinga and Jamila Mohammed quashed the conviction and the death sentence.

The officers claimed they were the ones who had been shot at by the six taxi drivers.

The appellate judges criticised Justice Ochieng’ for failing to acknowledge that as police officers they had acted in self-defence as required of them by the law.
They ruled that the lower court erred in saying the accused used excessive force and had a common intention of killing.

“The shootout occurred at night when there was poor visibility. The officers identified themselves and fired at least twice in the air to disperse the seven who kept advancing towards them…

“In these days when many officers are being killed by armed criminals, the officers, unaware that there had been a physical confrontation between the taxi drivers and motorcyclists, could have reasonably believed that their lives were in danger and decided to open fire,” ruled the judges.

And the six officers were acquitted.