A dog’s watertight evidence

By Wahome Thuku

Were the people of Embu District to honour their heroes, one medal would go to Omas. That is not a freedom fighter or a leading athlete or politician. It’s not a name many in Embu town have ever heard about.

Omas was one of the most sagacious and outstanding police dogs in Embu town. But in a country where few have regard for animals and mistreat them with impunity, honouring a dog is rarely heard of.

Unlike many police officers who frame up charges and allegations even against the innocent, Omas was honest, truthful and incorruptible. Yet he was brave, royal and forthright.

Wild screams

It was the first hour of January 1, 1994. Dr Mohammed Mushtaq and his family had just crossed over into the New Year and were upbeat. They lived in Kangaru village just outside Embu town.

They had not even begun the celebrations when at around 1.30am they heard their watchman screaming outside the house. Dr Mushtaq peeped through the window and saw some men beating the guard. They disconnected security lights and cut the window grills. In a moment, they entered the house.

The gang, armed with crude weapons ransacked the house and terrorised the family demanding money. Dr Mushtaq pleaded with them to take whatever they wanted and not harm his family. They beat him and threatened to kill one of his children.

Others kept guard in the compound. A gardener called Richard Njue managed to escape and raised alarm. The neighbours rang the police and a security company.

As neighbours began to respond, the gangster outside the house alerted those inside. They all escaped taking with them Dr Mushtaq’s wristwatches and a machine for checking blood pressure worth Sh210,000 and Sh32,000 respectively. On the way out, they met Njue and slashed him twice with a machete.

The neighbours rushed Dr Mushtaq and employees to hospital. No one identified the robbers.

Soon after, four police officers including the Embu police boss arrived at the scene. The others were police constables Eliphas Bitok, Amos Marimba and John Musau. With them was tracker dog, Omas under the command of Bitok.

The officers assessed the scene and the damages caused by the gangsters.

As they were conducting their business, the dog gave indications that it had tracked something strange.

Bitok and Marimba allowed it to lead them. It showed them the gangsters escape route. Safely in the hands of Bitok, the dog led them to Kangaru Road and headed towards a market. It then diverted to a church and suddenly it stopped.

As Bitok explained later, the dog became very agitated. The officer lit his torch and saw a man hiding in a fence.

"When the man saw us, he started running and I warned him to stop," Bitok said.

The man did not stop and Bitok released the dog. Omas intercepted him, wrestled him to the ground and he was arrested.

The man’s name was David Njeru Kibuthu. On quick interrogation, he said he was coming from a disco and did not know why he was being arrested.

He was handcuffed and taken back to the scene and handed over to the OCS.

The officers went back to the fence and the dog picked scent leading to a nearby house. The officers knocked the door but there was no response. They kicked it open and found a man seated on a chair. His name was David Mwendwa.

Before leading him away, Omas held on to another inner door that had been locked from outside.

A dog’s insistence

The officers asked Mwendwa if there was anyone inside and he said no. But the dog would not move and became even more agitated.

They broke into the room and found another man hiding under the bed. His name was Joseph Kinyua.

The three men were locked up at Embu Police Station. No stolen goods were found on them or in the house.

The following morning, scene of crime officers dusted Dr Mushtaq’s house for fingerprints on doors, tables, telephones, toilet covers and cistern and shelves.

Several days later, the three men were charged with violent robbery. The case went before the then Embu Principal Magistrate Kaburu Bauni who later became judge.

After a lengthy trial, they were all convicted and sentenced to death. They appealed to the High Court in Nyeri but the sentence was upheld. The case finally went before Court of Appeal judges Philip Tunoi, Emmanuel O’Kubasu and William Deverell.Their lawyer, Mr Patrick Kiage, first challenged the evidence of the police officers on how the suspects had been arrested with the help of a dog.

The judges became concerned. Omas’s experience as a tracker dog and his ability to distinguish the scent of criminals from other people in a scene was questioned.

The magistrate had accepted that the dog was well trained in tracking. The judge did not question the fact that an experienced tracker dog could actually distinguish the bad man from the good people. But no evidence had been produced even before the magistrate that Omas was one such dog.

The court first dealt with Kabuthu’s case. He had been found in a fence. Nothing had been recovered on him and no one claimed to have seen him at the scene. There was no evidence linking him to the robbery other that identification by Omas the dog.

Even the State conceded that his conviction could not hold. On May 20, 2005, after 11 years in custody, Kabuthu’s conviction was quashed and he was acquitted.

The same argument applied for Kinyua and Mwendwa. In fact, the judges questioned how the dog could have traced the scene of two people at the same time, leading to the house where they were arrested.

But there was more. Kinyua’s fingerprints had been traced on a table in Dr Mushtaq’s sitting room while Mwendwa’s had been traced on a telephone receiver and a table in the children’s bedroom.

There was no evidence that the two had been in the house before on a different mission. There was enough evidence that they were part of the robbers.

On the same day, their appeal was dismissed and thus condemned to death.

Omas had done his job. His disappointment that the Court of Appeal did not believe him must have been understandable. His handlers had failed to support him with sufficient expert or scientific evidence to prove that he was experienced and intelligent. Not discouraged, Omas remained loyal and continued serving the people of Embu diligently.