How police blunders aid offenders

The events of August 4 will live to haunt Margarita Kinyua, a young doctor who lost her mother, Pauline Waceke, in a puzzling fire tragedy that has exposed police laxity in securing key evidence as well as crime scenes.

Waceke, a 58-year-old retired personal administrator, died in a fire at her daughter’s house at Munga flats on Kiambu Road, a few minutes after Dr Kinyua had left home to run some errands and later proceed to work.

What remained of Dr Kinyua’s well-furnished house included not only some ash and charred remains of her exotic furniture and electronics, but also blood stains on the ceiling of the room under the main bedroom.

Strangely, detectives who were investigating the incident, as confirmed by Starehe DCIO Martin Mbaya, were not privy to that crucial detail that could have helped establish the cause of the fire that started from the bedroom.

When the Nation visited the scene a few days later, the stain was still visible right from the surface surrounding a crack on the ceiling of the room under Dr Kinyua’s bedroom, on the wall and down to the floor.

FOUL PLAY

Its presence pointed to the possibility of a struggle or the falling of a person who may have tried to escape the flames unsuccessfully.

Apparently, forensic experts had collected pieces of evidential material from the house for use in analysing the incident but left out this crucial detail.

“The blood stain could mean the fire was a cover-up for some heinous act. We shall investigate and establish what exactly happened,” Mr Mbaya told the Nation, adding that detectives were going to visit the scene again in order to understand this new crucial evidence.

While going back to the scene in order to gather fresh evidence is routine in all investigations, the only problem with Mr Mbaya’s decision was that the Nation had already gained access into the house where Wacheke’s body had been found despite the area being an active crime scene.

Forensic experts have told us that by gaining access to the house, which was not secured, we not only introduced our DNA but we could also have tampered with some crucial evidence.

But in a country where the State has several times lost cases in court for bungling investigations by simply failing to secure crime scenes, there is always a lurking question of who is to blame and what can be done better.

ASSA NYAKUNDI

In one such recent incident, Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti interdicted two detectives on allegations of bungling a highly publicised case involving city lawyer Assa Nyakundi in which he was made to face a charge of manslaughter instead of murder over his son’s death.

Journalists who were following up on the story were puzzled to find the Toyota Axio in which Joseph Nyakundi was allegedly shot in parked in a car yard at Muthaiga Police Station together with vehicles detained for traffic offences.

The car park is surprisingly also used by members of the public, who visit the station seeking other services.

Nevertheless, forensic experts from the DCI arrived at Muthaiga Police Station on March 20 and proceeded to examine the car.

In yet another criminal case which the Nation covered in recent months, 32-year-old Joyce Wanjiru allegedly killed her husband and two children before committing suicide at their home in Thome Estate, Nairobi.

CONTAMINATED SCENE

In the usual Kenyan style, neighbours thronged the murder scene moments after the bodies were first sighted at their modestly furnished two-roomed house at the estate.

Officers from Thome Police Post arrived minutes later, collected the bodies, carried out preliminary investigations and left the solitary home unsecured.

What was an active crime scene on that Tuesday afternoon was easily accessible by everyone, including thieves the following morning.

Casual labourers who had been deployed to work at the homestead’s farm easily managed to get into the compound and continue with their work.

This is despite the Kasarani Police Commander Peter Kimani telling us that it was still a matter under investigation.

“After realising the mess she was in, Joyce Wanjiru took a rope and hanged herself; but we are still investigating to know what exactly transpired,” the police boss said.

A crime location ceases to be an active scene of crime after investigators have folded up their materials, secured them and left the scene, according to Dr Joseph Kimani, the Head of Forensic Biology at the Government Chemist.

EVIDENCE GATHERING

According to him, some scenes need to be protected for longer periods owing to the nature of the crime committed.

“For example, members of the public cannot be allowed access to a terror attack scene as soon as the police are done gathering evidence because there may be pockets of explosives left hidden by the attackers that may lead to a double tragedy,” says Dr Kimani.

He adds that every little forensic detail at a crime scene is important in the final outcome of the analysis of evidence, which is brought to them for testing.

The ripple effect could also influence the outcome of a case. The work of the Government Chemist is to test what has been brought to them by the police but they are sometimes taken to the scene to collect the evidence themselves.

According to criminal investigation experts, the most important aspect of evidence collection and preservation is protecting the crime scene.

This ensures that the evidence is preserved until it can be recorded and collected.

OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS

Asked if he has come across cases of evidence failing to pin down the person who committed the offence due to interference, Dr Kimani said his work revolves around testing what has been presented to them by the police.

“We analyse what is brought to us without knowing the details of the incident. The opinion we form is squarely based on the results of the findings we get after conducting the tests, be they DNA or toxicology,” he says.

“We have no control over what is presented to us for analysis. We cannot also tell whether the material given to us has been interfered with because we were not at the scene when it was being collected. We therefore cannot lay blame on any party if a case fails on account of evidence interference,” he explains.

In most criminal cases, the successful prosecution of a case hinges on the state of the physical evidence at the time it is collected.

Thus, protection of the scene begins with the arrival of the first police officer at the scene and ends when the scene is released from police custody.

EXPERTISE

In Kenyan crime scenes, the first responders are usually the eyewitnesses, who often make a call to the nearest police station.

The police stations usually send general duty officers who experts say are not being adequately trained to handle crime scenes, which leads to evidence contamination.

“You will find the police allowing just anyone to pass through the scene even if it is cordoned off, an element that suspects may use in court as part of their mitigation.

"That way the suspects may end up having the liberty to declare in court that whatever was collected at the scene had been planted against them,” explains security expert George Musamali.

“I think the police have been treating the scenes of crime unprofessionally in a deliberate style aimed at achieving public approval,” he argues.

In 2016, the Court of Appeal sitting in Mombasa set free one Mr Feisal Mohammed Ali, alias Feisal Shahbal, who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison with an additional fine of Sh20 million for being in possession of 314 pieces of elephant tusks weighing 2,152.45 kilos.

ACQUITTAL

Police said that they found the tusks hidden in manila sacks and covered with a red canvas at a store within the yard of Fuji Motors East Africa Limited.

They loaded the haul onto a truck and drove it to Makupa Police Station.

However, the court ruled the evidence tabled by the police failed to link the suspect to the find. It also ruled that police could not provide proof that Mr Shahbal was involved in the illegal trade in ivory.

It added that there was no evidence that any ornaments were recovered from the scene as there were many people at the scene and anyone could have planted the alleged evidence.

Mr Musamali advises that to avoid such mishaps, access crime scenes should be controlled.

“Only those responsible for the immediate investigation of the crime, the securing of the scene, and processing of the crime scene should be present. Non-essential people, including politicians, should never be allowed into a secured crime scene,” he says.