New DPP to decide fate of DCI officers linked to the disappearance of two Indians, Kenyan taxi driver

Officers from disbanded Special Service Unit (SSU) at a Kahawa Law Courts on Tuesday, June 06, 2023. [Collins Kweyu, Standard] Eight officers from the disbanded Special Service Unit (SSU) accused of the disappearance of two Indian nationals and their driver will know whether they will be charged in September. The officers are linked to the disappearance of Mohamed Zaid Kidwai, Zulfiqar Khan, and Kenyan driver Nicodemus Mwania in July last year. This is after the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) informed Kahawa Law Court magistrate Gideon Oenga that the government chemist is yet to conduct analysis on the DNA collected in a bid to match them with the two Indians and drivers who vanished last year. Initially, the DPP had indicated that the officers were to be charged on Tuesday. However, Senior Assistant DPP Michael Sang told the court that the State needed time for the DNA tests to be concluded. He argued that the Shakahola murders probe had shifted the government's attention adding that the outgoing DPP Noordin Haji cannot approve charges owing to a conflict of interest. According to Sang, the case will have to wait for a new DPP to take office in order to decide whether to charge the suspects or not. He stated that it will take at least three months to know the fate of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers. The officers are Corporals Joseph Mwenda Mbaya and David Chepcheng Kipsoi, Constables Stephen Luseno Matunda, Paul Njogu Muriithi and Simon Muhunga Gikonyo, Chief Inspector Peter Muthee, Corporals Joseph Mbugua, Francis Ndonye and John Kamau. The suspect's lawyers argued that the court should order the state to close the files. Lawyers Clinton Mwale and Martina Swiga argued that the processes had delayed justice for their clients. By the time the court convenes again, Kidwai, Khan and Mwania will have disappeared for over a year since they went missing on July 22, 2022. Kidwai's wife in her application filed before High Court judge Hedwig Ong'undi said that the trio were in the hands of the police adding that they are being illegally held for unknown reasons. Her lawyer, Cohen Amanya, asked the court to order the government to produce Kidwai, Khan and Mwania alive or dead. "My husband and his driver have been under police custody from July 22, 2022. I am advised by my advocate, the advice I verily believe to be true that he is being held illegally without any lawful justification which is contrary to Article 49 (1) of the Constitution of Kenya," said Mrs Kidwai. In her affidavit, Kidwai narrated that on July 22, her husband left their hotel room at the Curve Park Apartment and Hotel for Alchemist Bar in Parklands, Nairobi. According to her, he left at around 10.45 pm. She said that 15 minutes later, they talked and he informed her that he was leaving Alchemist. He never returned. She said that the following morning at 3 am, she woke up and realized that he had not returned and that she tried to reach him and Mwania but in vain. The woman claims she went to Parklands Police Station to report her missing husband, his friend and the driver but the officers at the station declined to record a statement as 48 hours had not passed. She then went to Alchemist and requested the management to show her the CCTV footage for that night. According to her, the CCTV videos showed that the three left the bar at midnight in a Toyota Fielder KCG 335E. "With the help of the hotel management, I visited Akila Police Station where I recorded the incident as Occurrence Book number 4 of July 23," she said adding that while at the station, she was informed by the detectives from Langata Police Station that the vehicle was found abandoned at the Express Highway. She stated that there were skid marks on the road suggesting that another vehicle had intercepted them. The Indian national said that she later learned that the trio had been arrested at Westlands. "My husband and his friend have been frequent visitors to Kenya since February 2022. We even had planned to travel to Masaai Mara, Amboseli and Lamu," she said.

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New DPP to decide fate of DCI officers linked to the disappearance of two Indians, Kenyan taxi driver

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