Msando: Spotlight back on police after suspects released

The Class Seven pupil at Anindo Primary School in Awendo sub-county Migori County. She was arrested and linked to Chris Msando’s murder. PHOTO | BENSON MOMANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Police sources say that evidence against the two — Mr Andrew Rono and a minor whose name cannot be revealed for legal reasons — was weak.
  • When the Nation visited the home of the 17-year-old pupil in Awendo, Migori County who was released from police custody last week, her mother said the girl was still traumatised.
  • The number she mistakenly dialled was that of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ICT manager.
  • The shy girl and her widowed mother first recorded a statement at the Awendo Police divisional headquarters before she was bundled into a car and driven to Nairobi.

The spotlight has returned to police investigators after the release of two suspects arrested for the murder of electoral commission technology manager Chris Msando.

Police sources told the Nation that evidence against the two — Mr Andrew Rono and a minor whose name cannot be revealed for legal reasons — was weak and could not be linked directly to the brutal murder of the official less than two weeks to the August 8 election.    

When the Nation visited the home of the 17-year-old pupil in Awendo, Migori County who was released from police custody last week, her mother said the girl was still traumatised.

It appears a missed digit when her elder sister, who has since died, made a call using the pupil’s Safaricom SIM card marked the beginning of tribulations for the Standard Six girl.

That was sometime early this year. The number she mistakenly dialled was that of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ICT manager.

CALLER IDENTITY

Mr Msando then sent Sh10 through M-Pesa to establish the identity of the caller. This was around the same time the IEBC boss had started receiving death threats and therefore did not take lightly any calls to his phone, both intended and unintended.

“The SIM card was mine but registered in my mother’s name because I did not have a national identity card,” said the teenage girl who was last month picked up by detectives and spent one week at the Muthaiga Police Station cells in Nairobi.

“I did not know (Mr) Msando until the time of his death when I saw the story in the media. The police officers from Nairobi had said they were looking for a lost phone when they arrived at our home in Awendo,” said the girl.

REPORTED MISSING

“The Msando death story was only told to me when I arrived at the CID headquarters in Nairobi,” she said. Mr Msando’s body and that of 21-year-old Maryanne Ngumbu were found in a thicket in Kiambu County shortly after they were reported missing a week to the August 8 general elections.

She added: “I was taken to an office where the person I found there asked me if I knew Msando. He told me I had sent threatening messages to him. I denied the claim and challenged him to display to me the messages, which he didn’t. I was unable to understand what was happening,” she told this writer  at her primary school soon after being released from custody.

The shy girl and her widowed mother first recorded a statement at the Awendo Police divisional headquarters before she was bundled into a car and driven to Nairobi.

At Muthaiga Police station cells where she spent a week, she was being held in a juvenile cell but claimed she was never given food by the police during the period she was there.

“My elder brother who works in Nairobi is the one who brought me food daily and comforted me. It was torture,” she said. The teenager said she was interrogated on the first and second day at the police station, with the questioning largely based on whether she knew Msando or not.

KIAMBU JUVENILE COURT

The detectives later took her to Kiambu Juvenile Court and requested the court to detain her until they completed their investigations, a request which was granted.

Back at the Muthaiga Police Station, the girl was again questioned one more time before she was released to her brother on August 30.Her brother said the life of the young girl, whose father died when she was still an infant, has been seriously affected by the incident.

“Police say the phone was used to threaten Msando but my sister says she knows nothing about it. She told me she did not know Msando until his killing was reported in the media,” he added.

“The (mobile phone) line they are talking about is the one she used until last year and she does not have it. She said one of her friends took it.”

The family is contemplating suing the State for wrongful detention of the minor. One of the girl’s teachers said they were shocked by reports of the girl’s arrest.

“She is very disciplined. The incident shook her life but she is now picking up,” he said. According to her brother, the detectives released her but warned they will still come for her if need arises.

LANDLORD WOES

In the meantime, Mr Rono, who works for a State corporation and Mr Idra Kisasa were also arrested later in connection with the death of Mr Msando. Mr Rono was Mr Msando’s landlord at Nyayo Estate, Embakasi, until four years ago.

Mr Msando has since been buried at his home in Lifunga K’Obiero Village, Siaya County even as the police continue with their investigation. But many questions remain unanswered about the murder of the top IEBC official and his companion.

Last week, The High Court discharged Mr Rono over the death of Mr Msando with no charges being preferred against him.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko urged Justice James Wakiaga to discharge the suspect, then direct him to be reporting to the homicide department of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

A state prosecutor, Ms Catherine Mwaniki, urged Justice Wakiaga to release the suspect as the police conduct further investigations but defence lawyers Harun Ndubi and Geoffrey Tele opposed saying “no charges have been preferred against the suspect despite being detained for 19 days.”