Officer accused of murder has case to answer, Nyeri court rules

A police officer accused murdering his colleague after a quarrel in a bar has a case to answer, the High Court has ruled.

Justice Teresiah Matheka said that the court had found that the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions had established a case against Constable Simon Nzomo.

The Administration Police officer was jointly charged with Constable Samuel Chemobo with the murder of Corporal Eliud Wanjohi, who was then attached to Narumoru Police Station.

According to the charge sheet, the two officers jointly killed Mr Wanjohi after assaulting him at Kimahuri Trading Centre in Kieni East, Nyeri County, on August 15, 2011.

Mr Chemobo died in a road accident in January 2013, leaving Mr Nzomo to fight the murder charges.

In her ruling, Justice Matheka found that the prosecution, through its 14 witnesses, demonstrated that Mr Wanjohi was arrested by the two officers from a bar.

POLICE CELL

A postmortem report indicated Mr Wanjohi was found dead in the police cell.

Government pathologist Okoth Obiero, told the court that the post-mortem showed that Mr Wanjohi died from lack of oxygen.

“I found that his nose and mouth must have been forcefully covered before death. The neck region and muscles were damaged and had injuries,” said the pathologist.

He conducted the post-mortem at Nyeri Provincial General Hospital and produced the report in court as an exhibit.

Justice Matheka said that witnesses said that they saw the accused person and his colleague struggle to eject Mr Wanjohi from the bar.

Mr Gerald Mwangi, a witness, said Mr Wanjohi was chewing miraa and drinking a soda when his colleagues approached him.

CONSEQUENCES

“They spoke to him in a language that I did not understand because I am not learned and Wanjohi stood up immediately and went to the pub. They followed him there telling him that he would face the consequences,” narrated Mr Mwangi.

He added that the officers also used a curtain on the pub’s entrance to cover Mr Wanjohi's mouth and nose during the brawl.

“They were very cruel to him. I was watching through the window,” Mr Mwangi who is a boda boda operator testified.

Mr Wanjohi, the court heard, begged them to leave him alone while asking for help from onlookers but the officers continued roughing him up.

He also said the officers pushed Mr Wanjohi to the ground and Mr Nzomo stepped on his stomach several times with force until the victim passed urine.

GOOD HEALTH

Mr Nzomo, the witness said, looked startled at what he saw and moved a few metres away before calling Kiganjo Police Station officers to collect Mr Wanjohi's body.

Mr Wanjohi’s mother, Virginia Njeri, 55, told the court that her son left their Kimahuri home in Kieni East in good health only to receive a phone call that he had been seriously beaten by Administration Police officers from a nearby camp.

Justice Matheka, in her ruling, said some of the issues raised by the suspect that he was acting in self defence, are matters for the defence hearing.

The officer is expected to issue his defence on March 5, 2019.