The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has accused embattled Nairobi Central Police Station OCS Samson Taalam of paying a technician to delete CCTV footage linked to the death of Albert Ojwang.
Appearing before the Milimani Law Courts, the DPP, through legal counsel, accused Taalam of interfering with crucial evidence in the ongoing investigation into Ojwang’s death in police custody.
Last week, it emerged that a technician was paid Ksh3,000 to delete the crucial footage that is said to be important in piecing together what happened to the blogger while in police custody. It was not immediately made public who paid for the deletion of the CCTV footage.
However, the prosecution on Monday, claimed that Taalam, as the custodian of station records and surveillance systems, allegedly contracted the technician to tamper with the CCTV footage at the station in what is believed to be a deliberate attempt to obstruct justice.
“There are witnesses, particularly police officers who were on duty on the material day, who are yet to be interviewed and have their statements recorded. Given the respondent’s position as OCS, there is a high likelihood that he will interfere with these potential witnesses,” the DPP stated.
While making their prayer to hold Talaam for 21 days, the government accused the OCS of paying the suspect to tamper with the footage. The man accused of deleting the CCTV footage is said to have been arrested on the morning of Friday, June 13, in a supposed targeted operation at his residence in a populous Nairobi estate.
According to sources privy to the situation, the technician, who had overseen the installation of all 25 cameras at the station in 2024, was called just past 6am on Saturday, June 8, by a police officer at Central Police Station. Aside from the cameras, the man also installed a digital video recorder (DVR) where all captured footage is stored.
The man claims that the officer urged him to report to the station immediately. Upon arrival, he was taken to the office of a senior officer, where the DVR is housed, and was allegedly asked to delete footage from Thursday, June 6, and Friday, June 7, and was paid Ksh3,000.
Talam has been in custody since his arrest on Friday in Eldoret. According to reports, police claimed he had gone into hiding before he was tracked down and handed over to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) for further interrogation.
IPOA filed an application seeking to detain Taalam for 21 days to allow completion of investigations into the murder of Ojwang.
The arrest came after DCI Director General Amin Mohamed told a Senate inquiry that Talam was the prime person of interest in the murder of Albert Ojwang, citing his position of command at the station where the influencer died.
“It has further been confirmed that before the booking, the report office personnel called the OCS, who declined to book the suspect. Talam is the Officer Commanding Central Police Station,” Amin told the committee.
