Slain lawyer wrote a 'plea for help' on tissue paper

Peter Ngugi testifies at Milimani court during the hearing of a case in which he is charged alongside three police officers with the killing of lawyer Willie Kimani, his client and a taxi driver. [George Njunge, Standard]

The lead investigator in the killing of lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josphat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri was put to task on why the police allegedly held a suspect who confessed about the killing for more hours than allowed by the law.

Chief Inspector Robert Owino explained to the court that Peter Ngugi was arrested by Flying Squad officers on August 8, 2016, but was booked the following day at Kamirithu Police Post at 8 pm.

Ngugi’s lawyer Kevin Michuki insisted that he was held by the police beyond 24 hours and without being booked in the Occurrence Book (OB).

However, the officer replied that the suspect was held within the 24 hours and was subsequently surrendered to the court.

“The accused number five was held at Kamirithu Police Post. We did not detain him at the Flying Squad offices as we do not have cells and we also did not record that we held him as we do not have an OB occurrence books or cell register,” he replied.

The officer was testifying in the case where Ngugi and police officers Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Cheburet, Sylvia Wanjiku and Leonard Mwangi are accused of murdering the three.

While testifying before Justice Jessie Lesiit, the officer explained that Ngugi was arrested and it was decided that he was a key person after interrogation.

He was also asked about a letter written to Safaricom’s liaison officer in a bid to provide data on calls which would help connect the suspects to the murder.

The officer told the court that the liaison officer is a Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officer who is a link to the police and who confirms and coordinates requests for data extraction.

But the investigator said the officer does not analyse data obtained from the telco.

“Is he a member of the force?” asked Michuki.

Owino replied: “Yes, he is from DCI, but he is not the one who generates the data.”

According to the officer, when Leliman locked the three at Syokimau Police Station on June 23, 2016 and Kimani wrote a note on a tissue paper requesting passersby to call his wife and explain that they had been locked up.

He wrapped the tissue to a socket which was lying in the holding area and threw it out. A boda boda rider saw the same, read its content and called his wife. The court heard that she thought it might be some cons so she disregarded the same.

At the same time, the rider threw away the socket plus the tissue. Later in the evening, when Kimani failed to show up to his house, his wife informed his employer about the call.

Chief Inspector Owino told the court that he managed to trace the rider who took him to the place he had disposed of the socket and the tissue paper. The tissue was taken for analysis and it was discovered that it was Kimani’s handwriting.

“On June 27, 2016, we received a report from document examiner that the note was written by late Willie Kimani which confirmed that they were confined in a fabricated container. The note had indicated that the three had been detained at the AP Camp and they were asking for assistance as they feared their lives were in danger,” narrated Owino.

It is then they moved to Syokimau and asked Cheburet and Wanjiku whether the three were in that station and whether they had been booked in the Occurrence Book. The case will proceed on November 25.