The Director of Public Prosecutions has approved murder charges against four police officers who were caught on camera killing the main suspect in the Sh72 million Nairobi West ATM heist.
CLP. Joseph Ojode Obambo, PC. Henry Mutai, PC. Bashir Ali, and PC. Charles Kirimi was arraigned before Justice Lilian Mutende at Milimani Law Courts on Tuesday, June 7, 2022.
They were accused of jointly murdering Wycliff Vincent Oduor at Kayole Junction area. They denied the charges, however, they were remanded at the Industrial Area Remand pending determination of their bail application.
Oduor was gunned down on March 24, 2020, by the police who immediately released a statement claiming he was killed during a shootout between gangsters and police.
In a statement, the DCI claimed, Oduor, alongside others, was shot dead by special crime officers as they tried to rob a person. The detectives claimed, with a kitchen knife and rifles, that Oduor and his accomplices waylaid a member of the public at Kayole junction, but the victim raised an alarm, hence police officers on patrol confronted them.
“The mastermind in Sh72 million Nairobi West ATM heist last year Wycliff Vincent Oduor was today gunned down in a fierce shootout between a three-man gang of robbery with violence suspects and detectives responding to a distress call from the public at Kayole Junction in Nairobi,” the DCI said on his Twitter account then.
Unknown to the officers, the entire incident was captured on camera by members of the public.
In court, the four officers were not required to go through a mental assessment to ascertain their suitability to take a plea- a practice that used to be followed previously.
The court recently issued a ruling on the issue of accused persons being subjected to a mental assessment before entering a plea. In a ruling, the Court held that no law requires suspects to be examined before pleading to a charge of murder.
Oduor had been linked to an Sh72 million heist in Nairobi West in 2019 before his murder.
The police then claimed that he was the mastermind of the shocking robbery where thieves stole Sh72 million in transit from the G4S headquarters on Witu Road belonging to Standard Chartered Bank ATM in Nairobi West.
He was arrested and charged alongside two others over the incident, however, while the case was going on, he was granted bail pending trial, but he was killed before the case could be resolved.
Following his death, his lawyer, Cliff Ombeta, shared a video clip that he allegedly obtained from members of the public showing officers executing Oduor in broad daylight while he was unarmed.
The Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) also launched an investigation to determine what happened before the file was forwarded to the Office of DPP for further action.
