Charge suspects in remandee's death or free them, police told
The magistrate directed police to decide whether they have a case against the suspects, and press charges within two days, or set them free. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
A court has given police 48 hours to decide whether or not to prefer charges against nine suspects arrested in connection to the murder of Mr Peter Kariuki.
The deceased and the nine had been in custody ahead of arraignment.
The court earlier allowed police to continue detaining the accused for three more days for the probe.
Mystery still surrounds the death of a suspect inside the Nakuru Teachers Police Post.
A court has given police 48 hours to decide whether or not to prefer charges against nine suspects arrested in connection to the murder of Mr Peter Kariuki.
DEADLINE
Chief Magistrate Bernard Mararo issued the orders on Monday after the prosecution asked to continue holding the suspect for investigations to be concluded.
The deceased and the nine had been in custody ahead of arraignment.
In his ruling, the magistrate directed police to decide whether they have a case against the suspects, and press charges within two days, or set them free.
“The suspects should be released to Teachers Police Post immediately. They should report to the Nakuru Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) every Friday beginning September 28. They should be charged if need be within 48 hours,” ruled Mararo.
In their application, police sought to have the suspects held by the DCI in Nakuru before charges are preferred against them.
“We are expecting some forensic evidence. If released they can be reporting to the DCI on a weekly basis. The nine were supposed to face different charges," Mr Dedan Kihara said, for the prosecution.
QUESTIONS
The court earlier allowed police to continue detaining the accused for three more days for the probe.
At first police claimed that Mr Kariuki committed suicide while inside the cell on September 16.
However, the intervention of Nakuru County Human Rights Network (NAHURINET) Executive director David Kuria prompted them to investigate further.
According to an affidavit sworn by Corporal Francis Mulai, the deceased hang himself using a shirt.
Mr Kuria questioned how the deceased was able to commit suicide using a shirt and the grills of the cell's door without attracting attention from police officers and other remandees.
A postmortem on the body, that was conducted last Friday, revealed that he suffered injuries to both legs and that his body was swollen.
