Court rules in favor of IAU probing cops linked to the murders of 2 Indians
A court on Wednesday ruled that the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has jurisdiction to investigate officers of the disbanded Special Services Unit charged in connection to the disappearances of three men in July.
The four officers, accused of being behind the disappearances of two Indians and their Kenyan driver, had through their lawyer filed an application seeking to bar IAU from probing them.
“It is within the mandate of IAU to investigate such cases but upon conclusion, they should forward the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions through the DCI,” Lady Magistrate Mochache of the Kahawa Law Courts said in her ruling.
“They cannot come to court to bring charges, but they can conduct probe on matters concerning police officers. The application made is entirely on investigations.”
IAU sought to detain the four officers for 30 days to conduct investigations against Peter Muthee Gachiku, Francis Muendo Ndonye, John Mwangi Kamau and Joseph Kamau Mwangi.
The four were arrested over the weekend following a directive by President William Ruto to probe police-linked killings and enforced disappearances.
Through their lawyer Danstan Omari, they argued that the AIU had no mandate to bring a case against police officers before court.
Omari held that only the DCI or IPOA and NPSC through the ODPP can bring such cases to court.
He disagreed with Mochache’s ruling and pointed out that he would challenge it.
“We will move to court on Wednesday to challenge the ruling. The outcome will inform our next move but we are ready to go all the way to the Supreme Court,” Omari said.
Meanwhile, Mochache has set Friday as the date to hear the application by IAU.
The unit seeks, among other things, to conduct DNA test on the four suspects to ascertain if they were at the scene of crime and also do a forensic audit of their phones.
The defense lawyer however holds that conducting DNA tests on the accused is inhumane.
“We will vehemently argue against the issue of conducting DNA test on the suspects as it is inhumane and tears off their dignity,” Omari said.
