Nairobi man gets Sh800,000 compensation for unlawful arrest

KENYA: A decision to charge a man with creating disturbance will now cost the taxpayer close to Sh1 million.

Nahashon Mwangi has pocketed Sh800,000 together with interest as an award by the High Court for unlawful arrest, confinement and mischievous prosecution.

Justice Alfred Mabeya said the petty crime Mr Mwangi was facing had been prosecuted in a ham-fisted manner, adding that there was no basis to hold the case to its success. Mwangi was arraigned at the Makadara Magistrates Court for the offence of creating disturbance in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace.

In the case before justice Mabeya both the commissioner of police and the Attorney General Githu Muigai did not enter any response and thus the case proceeded without a defence.

Mwangi, a businessman, recounted that on August 11, 2003, at around 6pm while he was at his business premises in Nairobi’s Eastleigh, a police officer in company of three neighbours arrested him.

He was put in the boot of a saloon car and taken to Shauri Moyo Police Station, though the reason for his arrest was not immediately mentioned to him.

NO EVIDENCE

Mwangi was booked with creating disturbance and put in the cells. The court heard that in the morning he was taken to the Officer Commanding Station where it was explained to him that he had insulted Charles Ndirangu, a neighbour.

Mwangi remained in police cell for a week without being arraigned in court but more interesting scenarios were to follow once he was put in the dock.

Justice Mabeya heard that on September 17, 2003, Mwangi asked the court to order that the occurrence book should be brought to enable him cross examine the first prosecution witness. The book went missing.

Further to his predicament, two years later, in 2005, the investigating officer who was meant to adduce evidence in court never appeared in court to testify against him. The arresting officer was also never called to explain why he had Mwangi in court without a valid reason.

The man had faithfully attended mentions of his case for the two years.

“Taking the objective test outlined from the clumsy way in which the prosecution conducted its case, I draw an inference that there was no basis for charging and prosecuting the plaintiff (Mwangi) and further that the prosecution was actuated by malice,” Mabeya said.