Witnesses in Meru University student leader shooting placed under witness protection

Administration Police officer Leakey Maina (centre in brownn coat). [Olivia Murithi, Standard]

A Meru court has ruled that witnesses of the shooting of a Meru University student leader will testify in camera.

Evans Njoroge alias Kidero was shot dead at close range on February 27, 2018 in the height of student protests held against university management.

An administration police officer Leakey Maina was arrested and charged with Kidero’s murder.

High court judge Francis Gikonyo made the ruling after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) made a motion on October 9, 2018.

The application sought for reduction of witness statements before they were supplied to the defence, use of pseudonyms by witnesses during testimony and deeming of all witness statements already supplied to the defence as properly served.

According to a supporting affidavit of the application by Javas Mutwiri, the protection is necessary especially because the accused person is a police officer and likely to manipulate and interfere with evidence.

The witnesses are considered as vulnerable because most of them are former colleagues of the accused and chances of them being compromised and or intimidated are high.

“The prosecution is apprehensive that the accused is out on bond and is likely to make contacts, interfere, intimidate, and or influence the witnesses through contacts,” said Patrick Namiti the prosecutor.

The defence opposed this motion by saying that the real prosecutor in the case was IPOA contrary to constitutional provisions.

They further argued that the DPP was making an application to serve the accused with anonymous witness statements after they had already done so while maintaining that the accused was not a threat to the witnesses because there was no evidence that he had attempted to interfere with any of them.

Justice Gikonyo however was satisfied that the witnesses required to be put under protection and allowed the application.

“I am satisfied that the witnesses are in danger. The need to protect the lives and well-being of the witnesses is an important consideration in the administration of justice,” ruled Justice Gikonyo.

The witnesses’ identity will be obscured by their testifying inside a protection box. This will be the second ever case to be heard in camera at the Meru Law Courts after the Marsabit chief’s murder case where six witnesses testified from the protection box earlier this week.

The case will be heard on July 22, 2019.