Fisherman Brian Odhiambo was abducted by six Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers on January 18, 2025, near Lake Nakuru National Park with the intent to confine him.
For the second day yesterday, Chief Inspector Julius Muhuri, the investigating officer in the case, told Nakuru Senior Principal Magistrate Kipkurui Kibelion that he started his investigations on January 20, after a missing person's report was made by Odhiambo's wife, Alvy Okello.
He told the court that his investigation proved that KWS' Senior Sergeant Francis Wachira led the team of rangers Alexander Lorogoi, Isaac Ochieng, Michael Wabukala, Evans Kimaiyo and Abdulrahaman Sudi in arresting Odhiambo in the Manyani area of Nakuru City.
"The KWS security team was conducting a crackdown in the Vietnam area over illegal fishing and trespass inside Lake Nakuru National Park. A team led by Wachira was dispatched to carry out the operations and arrested 10 people, including Odhiambo," testified Muhuri.
Muhuri testified that six out of 14 people who testified in the case witnessed Odhiambo being accosted by the KWS rangers after he trespassed the park to fish.
He said that three of them, including a neighbour, Agnes Achieng, Odhiambo's brother Carlos Otieno and his mother Elizabeth Auma, saw the rangers assaulting him and taking him away, never to be seen.
"Achieng saw four rangers beating up Odhiambo, and she identified them. Otieno and Auma saw the rangers dragging Odhiambo to their vehicle inside the park. Their accounts were consistent and corroborated each other," he testified.
Muhuri also testified that other fishermen, Dennis Juma and Michael Rono, who knew Odhiambo, testified that they saw him lying unconscious in Sudi's vehicle, and based on the ranger's reaction and gestures, the two believed he had died.
According to Muhuri, KWS provided them with the details of officers who were on duty when Odhiambo was abducted, and they summoned them to record their statements.
He provided data from Safaricom, showing that the mobile phone Odhiambo was using was in proximity to the rangers' phone, between 10am and 11am, on the day of the incident.
Muhuri said that Wachira, in his statement, admitted that he was in charge of the team and they pursued a suspect and arrested him at the Sewage area at around 10am.
"Wachira said that two rangers, Ochieng and Lorogoi, alighted from the vehicle and pursued the suspect. They were joined by Wabukala and Kimaiyo, who helped arrest the suspect," he testified.
He said he was informed that they drove back to the Sewage area where they transferred the suspect, who was restrained using a nylon rope, to Sudi's vehicle and left him to guard the suspect as the others, around 16, pursued other suspects.
He, however, poked holes in Sudi's statement, where he said that he drove the car while the suspect was at the back before he escaped when he asked to relieve himself, some kilometres inside the park.
"First, it was improper for the rangers to leave the suspect with the driver alone, unless the suspect was in no condition to escape," testified Muhuri.
Muhuri testified that Sudi did not explain what he was doing with the suspect for over three hours (between 11am and 1pm), despite their offices being close.
Further, the detective testified that the KWS rangers never booked in their Occurrence Book an escape by the suspect nor did they report to Bondeni Police Station, when they took nine other suspects as required by law.
Muhuri said the allegations that the suspect escaped were not proven, as no one saw him escape, and no report was made.
He said that despite Sudi claiming that Odhiambo escaped at around 1pm, the two fishermen saw him in his car after 2pm.
He also provided testimony by a former in-charge of the park, David Oyugi, who testified in a petition that they never recorded in their OB that a suspect escaped.
The prosecution closed the case with Muhuri's testimony.
The case will be mentioned on February 16, 2026.
