5 police officers face manslaughter charge for death of Nairobi man

KENYA: A Nairobi court has ordered that five police officers suspected of killing a man in Nairobi be charged with manslaughter.

The officers are alleged to have killed Fred Obado in 2012. Mr Obado was arrested in a swoop but later died in police custody.

Senior Principle Magistrate Joyce Gandani based her verdict on the testimonies of more than 20 witnesses. The inquest commenced following the death of Obado on April 6, 2012 after claims of a cover-up emerged.

The prosecution called a total of 28 witnesses. Fourteen of the witnesses had been with the accused on the night he was arrested.

The inquest heard that on April 6, 2012 at about 7:30pm, Obado and his friend Fred Ogolla went for a party at Warege’s Pub in Nairobi.

POLICE OPERATION

At around 10pm, there was a police operation at Wilson Airport area and the police asked them to leave. They left the pub and took one of their friends to Lang’ata, where he stays.

They then went to Nyayo Highrise to pick another friend. All this time Obado had been the one driving.

They later moved to another pub where the police officers arrested them. They were locked up in police cells at Kilimani Police Station. The following day, Obado’s family did not find him in the police cells.

They said they did not even find his name in the occurrence book. They were referred to the traffic office. One witness at the Traffic Department said he saw Obado’s keys and mobile phone.

A police officer told them that Obado had been hit by a speeding motorist along Jabavu Lane.