Court acquits five former King'ong'o prison warders

By Isaiah Lucheli

KENYA: The court of appeal has release five former warders of King’ong’o prison who had been convicted and sentenced to death for killing six prisoners 12 years ago.

It was joy for the five but a sad moment for four of their former colleagues after three appellate judges upheld their sentences.

In their ruling the five judges said that the four will have to face their capital sentence because they failed to explain to the court how the six inmates met their deaths.

In judgment, appellate judges Onyango Otieno, Wanjiru Karanja and David Maraga released Noor Mohammed Kumo, senior sergeant James Mugo Karanja, John Kariuki Njuguna, James Sise Boit and Joshua Onyango on the ground that they responded only when the siren went off at night.

Those who the judge's upheld their conviction by the high court were unlucky and they would serve the rest of their lives in prison included Jacob Muthee, Joseph Rukwaro, Caesar Mwangi and Samuel Ngugi.

The judges said that the four, who were on duty on the fateful night, were “directly duty bound to ensure the security of the inmates in cell 4 Block E throughout the night”.

The nine prison warders were sentenced to death four years ago by Justice Nicholas Ombija for killing six inmates at King’ong’o Maximum Prison in Nyeri in the year 2000.

They had been found guilty of bludgeoning to death Peter Koring, Julius Mungania, Joseph Kamande, John Nyoro, Peter Lomukunyo and Peter Ngurashana on the night of September 3 and 4, 2000 at Nyeri prison.

The court agreed with Boit’s lawyer Katwa Kigen saying that he was asleep in his house with his girlfriend when the siren was sounded.

The lawyer had told the court that the wander had been told that some prisoners had allegedly attempted to escape and he responded by summoning his juniors and allocating them tasks.

“In our considered view, we do not think the mere fact that a member of the disciplined force such as prison officer responds to an alarm as per his regulation without anything more would mean that he has taken part in a crime perpetrated either before or after or after the alarm is activated neither would it mean that he has formed the intention to take part in such a crime,” the judges said.

In his judgment, Justice Ombija accused the prison authorities of massive cover-up since the evidence was either destroyed or hidden. The judge dismissed a claim that the inmates could have died from injuries sustained after falling from a 40-foot perimeter wall in an escape bid.

He said evidence had shown that the warders used clubs, sticks, axes and pieces of wood to kill the prisoners. Government pathologist at the time, Dr Kirasi Olumbe and Dr Moses Njue concluded that the inmates died of multiple fractures on the skulls and limbs.

During the fateful incident, prisoners Godfrey Ipomai and Bernard Kimathi M’Mwirichia escaped, but the latter was re-arrested 36 hours later. M’Mwirichia was later to become a key witness in the trial. He recollected seeing warders arriving at the cells with all manner of weapons.

Following the shocking killings, an inquest was ordered and the then Nairobi principal magistrate Maureen Odero ruled that the inmates were bludgeoned to death.