ODPP approves murder charges against three police officers after IPOA investigation

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has approved charges against three police officers for murder.

Benson Mulinge, Michael Rotich and Osoi Sakimba of the Madogo Police Station will face the charges after the conclusion of investigations by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, IPOA, following the death of Ibrahim Isaack Gutu.

The three police officers are believed to have murdered Mr. Gutu who was a boda boda rider in Garissa.

On May, 30, 2014, the three police officers allegedly arrested the deceased and bundled him into a private car belonging to one of the officers. The officers however did not book Mr. Gutu in any police station for any offence, but his body was later discovered at a thicket within Shabaha area.

Witnesses said that they had seen the police officers who were well known, arresting Mr. Gutu and taking him away using a private vehicle with registration number KAR 317 U.

The witnesses said that after arresting Mr. Gutu, the police officers drove off the car towards Garissa and then took a turn towards Nairobi.

The next day, the family of the deceased went to the Madogo police station to inquire why he had been arrested and what charges he was facing, but they did not find the deceased, and no records about him were in the Occurrence Book, OB.

The body of Mr. Gutu was discovered two days later by a herder who identified the deceased because he knew him even before his death.

The herder told investigators that the body of the deceased had rubber bands around the neck, and that it had started to decompose. He further said that the wrist had handcuff marks.

An autopsy done at the Garissa Provincial Hospital Mortuary revealed that the deceased had died of a gunshot wound.

The ODPP believe that the series of circumstances point to the conclusion that the three accused police officers may have murdered Mr. Gutu.

“Their evidence does not exonerate the officers from the scene of crime as they were all within Madogo area on the night the deceased was arrested” a statement from the Office of the DPP stated.