Man tells court birthmarks helped him identify brother's body
Grace Wanjiru, sister of Joseph Muiruri, testifies in a Nairobi court on March 22, 2017. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Edward Mugambi told Justice Jessie Lessit that he identified his brother Josephat Mwenda at City Mortuary.
- Four Administration Police officers are on trial for the murder of lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Mwenda and their taxi driver Joseph Muiruri.
A brother of slain Jospehat Mwenda, a client of human rights lawyer Willie Kimani, identified him by the birthmarks on his decomposed body last June.
Mr Edward Mugambi told Justice Jessie Lessit that he identified his brother at City Mortuary through birthmarks on his ear, right hand and abdomen.
Four Administration Police officers are on trial for the murder of the lawyer, Mr Mwenda and their taxi driver Joseph Muiruri.
Mr Mugambi said he went to the mortuary to assist in identifying the body of his brother, “who had been reported missing”.
Mr Mugambi said he last saw his brother when he was in hospital with a gunshot wound on his right hand.
Mwenda had allegedly been shot by Senior Sergeant Fredrick ole Leliman, earlier last year.
Mr Leliman later arrested Mwenda and charged him with a traffic offence at Mavoko Law Courts.
Mr Leliman has been charged alongside his colleagues Leonard Mwangi Maina, Sylvia Wanjiku Wanjohi and Stephen Morogo and police informer Peter Ngugi Kamau with the murders of Mwenda, his lawyer Kimani and their driver Muiruri on June 23, who were kidnapped as they left the court. They were locked up at Syokimau AP Camp.
OPEN FIELD
The three were removed that night from the cell and killed in an open field near the Nation Media Group printing press.
The bodies were stashed in bags and thrown into a river near Ol Donyo Sabuk. they were discovered a week later.
The owner of the vast farm where the three were killed testified that she met policemen at the scene hours before the killing.
Ms Agnes Wayua Nzainga and her brother Atanus Mung’alu Nzainga, a second-hand clothes hawker, said they met men who identified themselves at the farm and they alleged they were keeping vigil since they had received information a robbery was to be committed in the area. Another police officer who worked with Ms Wanjohi and Mr Morogo told the judge they were on duty the day the three were locked up.
Mr Philemon Mwita told the judge that, although the three were allegedly held in the cells, their names were not in the Occurence Book of June 23, 2016. The hearing continues on Thursday.
