Probe: Police accused of complicity in disappearance of murder suspect

Mercy Kahenda 19th Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT +0300

**Samson Khamari Liavola the suspect when he appeared in Nakuru Court on December 18,2018.He escaped from Police cell on 2,2019** PHOTO/Harun Wathari

A family has accused the police of complicity in the disappearance of a man who had pleaded guilty to murdering their kin.

Samson Liavoga, 24, pleaded guilty to charges of robbery with violence and causing the death of Martin Mathea Kiumbuku, between November 6 and 7, 2018.

He was held at Nakuru Central Police Station after the prosecution applied to have him detained pending results of a medical test and sentencing.

Liavoga later disappeared from the station and no one knows where he is.

And now, the family of Kiumbuku, who was killed in a house at Ngala Estate, wants the police to produce him.

Through, Munene Chege and Company Advocates, the family has written to the Inspector General of Police and the Director of Criminal Investigations, to register its concerns.

In the dated November 11, the family has questioned what it terms the police’s of laxity in re-arresting the suspect.

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“We write to raise concerns over the seemingly snail-paced efforts in recapturing the fugitive. More disconcerting is the fact the family has been left in the dark and have no idea whether the police are expending any efforts towards apprehending the fugitive,” reads the letter.

Court documents show Liavoga admitted to robbing Mathea of a TV set worth Sh30,000, electric kettle worth Sh4,000, a gas cylinder (Sh3,800), decoder (Sh2,000), DVD player (Sh10,000), two mobile phones (Sh18,000) and a power bank (Sh1,000) among others.

The then Rift Valley Regional police commander Francis Munyambu said the two officers who were manning the cell and the report office when Liavoga went missing were arrested.

Munyambu said the officers said Liavoga disappeared after they allowed him to visit him to visit the toilet.

The father of the victim, Vincent Mathea, said new of the disappearance of his son’s killer has devastated his family. “I received the news of the death of my son with shock. Arrest and charging of the suspect was a reprieve but his disappearance from police cells has surprised us.” [Mercy Kahenda]

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