Police officers sentenced to death for killing seven taxi drivers set free

Six Administration Police officers were on December 19, 2012 sentenced to death for killing seven taxi drivers in Kawangware, Nairobi.

The officers were found guilty by a Nairobi court and convicted of seven counts of murder.

However, the sentence was later quashed by the Court of Appeal, which acquitted the six APs.

High Court judge, Justice Fred Ochieng', had ruled that the officers - Ahmed Mohamed Omar, Ahmed Abdallah Shaffi, Michael Ngungu Lewa, Moses Lochich, Nelson Kipchirchir Too and Erick Ebere Melchizedek, had a clear intention to kill the taxi drivers.

"The officers had a common plan to eliminate the drivers, who had the audacity to defy them and by firing indiscriminately using many bullets, their intention was to kill and cause harm, meaning they had malice aforethought," ruled Justice Ochieng'.

The six officers were charged with killing Harry Gideon Thuku, James Mugweru Mwangi, Joseph Maina Mwangi, George Ng'ang'a Thairu, William Gitonga Njau, Joseph Ngugi Chege and Joseph Thiongo Njoroge on March 11, 2010.

The judge said there was no doubt that the seven drivers were killed by bullets and that all the officers confirmed they were within the crime scene, were on duty and were armed with loaded guns.

According to the judge, the six officers readily incriminated themselves by admitting shooting at the taxi drivers, who allegedly attacked them.

The judge dismissed the officers' defence that their action was justified, saying killing of another person by a police officer is only justifiable if it is in the process of averting a crime, and it must be proved the officer was in real danger.

"If the taxi drivers had guns and attacked the officers as they claim, it would have been expected they would have injuries, but a medical doctor conducted tests and confirmed they had no physical injuries and were fit to stand trial," said the judge.

Initial police reports indicated that the APs attached to Dagoretti DC's office responded to a distress call and found a group of 20 people attacking motorcyclists and intervened to stop the fight.

However, on June 28, 2014, the Court of Appeal acquitted the six police officers, who were on death row for the murder of the taxi drivers.

Justices Daniel Musinga, Erastus Githinji and Jamila Mohammed said the officers shot the drivers in self-defence and quashed the verdict by the High Court that had ruled they be hanged. "It is the court's findings that the appellants acted in self-defence. Unfortunately, the trial court failed to consider that testimony during the defence hearing," the judges said.

"In recent times, many officers have died on the line of duty at the hands of armed criminals. The officers said their lives were in danger and opened fire in self-defence," the judges stated, holding that the shootout occurred at dusk when there was poor visibility.

They argued the use of excessive force by police officers in cases of violence and in times of self-defence cannot be treated as murder but as manslaughter. The court held that the motorists armed with pangas, swords and a weapon that resembled a gun had put the officers lives in danger. The officers' lawyers argued the drivers had armed themselves with machetes.

Lawyers Kioko Kilukumi and John Khaminwa represented the officers. The judges said: "We pose that the appellants had not been dispatched to Kawangware with rubber bullets, they had guns with live bullets."