Mutula, Rogo families wait for answers as police investigations drag on

The death of Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo is among five high profile cases that police are yet to resolve.

The cases involve that of Tony Ogunda, the former lover of one time presidential contender Raphael Tuju’s wife, and Erustus Chemorei— the former senior General Service Unit (GSU) officer, who had the key to a strongroom where a Sh6 billion cocaine haul had been kept.

Others cases are those of controversial Muslim cleric Sheikh Aboud Rogo, who was felled by bullets as he drove his wife and two daughters to hospital in August last year, and University of Nairobi student Mercy Keino— whose body was found lying on the roadside along Waiyaki Way.

Although Kilonzo’s family and police promised to release findings of postmortem following his sudden death at his Maanzoni home in April, the report is yet to be made public.

Sunday, a source confirmed that a parallel toxicological report on the lawyer’s body samples conducted in the UK on the request of his family had long been forwarded to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, which has been “reluctant” to share it with the government pathologist.

Equally, the source confirmed that Dr Johannsen Oduor, the chief government pathologist, was under pressure to submit his report after police handed him the toxicological report conducted locally.

Dr Oduor has been reportedly reluctant to submit his report without a comparative analysis of the UK findings.

“They have been telling him to wait…but how long can he continue waiting? The decision to delay the report is even delaying the start of an inquest which was to follow Mutula’s death,” the source, who sought anonymity for personal reasons, said.

Dr Ian Calder from the UK conducted the parallel analysis and reportedly submitted his findings to the police  mid-July. The presence of foreign substances in urine and blood samples of the deceased necessitated a parallel examination overseas.

Sunday, Dr Oduor said his report was ready but was awaiting his counterpart’s findings  before compiling the final one to be handed over to the investigators. “I do not want a situation whereby I have released a report without due consultations,” the doctor said on phone.

Police have so far questioned five people amongst them a cook, farmhand, farm manager and a butcher who sold him meat before he died.

Initially, detectives were zeroing in on possible heart attack before the likelihood of  the presence of a deadly toxin was discovered, and further analysis called for.

The late senator was found dead on April 27 at his home after driving himself from Nairobi. He had vomited in a projectile manner, according to investigators.

Sheikh Aboud Rogo

Out of the number of people whose killings remain mysterious, Sheikh Aboud Rogo’s murder on August 27 last year, remains one of the most controversial.

Having had his assets in the US frozen and placed on the UN list for sanctions, the bearded sheikh had been dragged in court several times for his alleged role in fuelling terrorism in the region.

His death was seen by the UN Security Council as a ‘setback’ to radicalism, a boost to war against terrorism, but its aftermath was chaotic and led to further deaths.

The controversial cleric was felled by bullets as he drove his wife and two daughters to hospital. There was also his cousin and the grandfather to his wife. The assailants drove a white Subaru which police say had no registration numbers. It has never been traced since.

Rogo (right) became the fifth suspected terrorist to either disappear or be killed in 2012. The Assassination led to mass protests in Mombasa in which the police were pelted with stones, and even explosives.

Two churches were torched during the incident, and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko formed a task force to investigate the murder.

Last month, the task force failed to identify his killers complaining that witnesses refused to come forth.

“During investigations and despite several appeals, by the task force and the police, in various media, the public did not come forward to volunteer information regarding the crime despite assurances given by the Task Force,” the report states.

“Witnesses were not free to volunteer information hence impacting negatively on the flow of information and the quality of evidence.”
As much as the chaos took a toll on police investigations, the task force reported that the police service itself mismanaged the incident.

First, the police arrived at the scene late and the crowd became hostile to the police accusing them of killing Sheikh Rogo. Then, the police themselves had suspicions among them; it wasn’t clear who was in charge.

The team drawn from the police, the Law Society of Kenya, DPP’s office, the Independent Police Oversight Authority, office of the Ombudsman and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said that despite leads on how the killers looked like, there was no tangible clue to identify the killers. It recommended that a public inquest be held to further investigate the matter.

That inquest is yet to be formed. Mr Jacob Ondari, the chairman of the task force and a senior assistant DPP told the Nation the police were to form the inquest “immediately.”

“The DPP wrote to the CID on the same day the report came out asking them to form the inquest. I will have to check with them to know its status,” he said.

Additional reporting by By AGGREY MUTAMBO @agmutambo
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