In connection with the disappearance of two Indians and their Kenyan taxi driver, fifteen policemen from the now-dissolved Special Services Unit (SSU) have been charged with murder by Director of Public Prosecution Renson Ingonga.
The trial for the case, which had started at Kahawa Law Court, will now proceed to Kiambu High Court, where the defendants would face new murder charges.
The 15 are accused of kidnapping and disappearance of two Indian citizens, Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan and Mohammed Zaid Sami, and their cab driver Nicodemus Mwania Mwange, on various days between July 22 and July 23, 2022, in Nairobi County.
Peter Muthee Gachiku, James Kibosek Tanuki, Joseph Kamau Mbugua, David Chepchieng Kipsoi, Joseph Mwenda Mbaya, John Mwangi Kamau, Hillary Limo Kipchumba, Stephen Luseno Matunda, Simon Muhuga Gikonyo, Paul Njogu Muriithi, Boniface Otieno Mtulla, Elikana Njeru Mugendi, and Fredrick Thuku Kamau are among the officers picked from various units in the security and intelligence sector.
Also included are Michael Kiplangat Bett and John Wanjiku Macharia.
The first witness reported to the court in March of this year that the accused had been positioned at the crime scene.
Principal Magistrate Gedion Kiage of the Kahawa Law Courts was informed by Officer Kennedy Ndeto, a member of the investigative teams and employee of the Internal Affairs Unit, that the defendants had been followed from Mombasa Road to Aberdares Forest.
Ndeto informed the court at the witness dock that the monitoring logs of the car the accused people allegedly used indicated that they arrived at Aberdares National Park at 6:34 p.m. via the Treetops gate.
The defunct SSU offices were located in the Old Nairobi area, and the investigative team tracked them there all the way to Aberdares.”We established that the vehicles travelled up to the Aberdares forest,” he stated.
Ndeto added that they were able to obtain the accused individuals’ phone data records, which located them in several areas of interest, such as the SSU Offices in the Old Nairobi neighborhood and along the Nairobi-Nyeri route, particularly from Muiga in Nyeri to Aberdares Nation Park.
