A video reconstruction of lawyer Willie Kimani's gruesome murder was on Monday, October 14, thrown out of court.
Speaking during the ruling, Lady Justice Jessie Lessit stated that the recording was not admissible in court due to a breach of protocol.
An error by the forensics officer, Joseph Muindi, who submitted the video as evidence was identified as the key reason for its dismissal.
“The law requires that when the officer decides to have the suspect take him to the scene and record, he has to take another qualified officer. He cannot be involved during the exercise,” Justice Lessit ruled.
“Being the one interviewing and taking the recording was a blunder. It was an action that required to be subjected to the rules of law. I note there was no compliance to the evidence taken out of court,” she added.
The ruling was a huge blow to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions as it contained 47 minutes and 48 seconds of a chilling description of how the late human rights lawyer, his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri were murdered.
In the video reconstruction scene, police informant (Peter Ngugi), who confessed to having aided in the brutal killings carried out by Administration Police (AP) officers, gave a minute-by-minute narration of how the plan was hatched, all the way through to its execution in 2016.
Ngugi's confession was read before Justice Lessit on October 7. The police informer narrated how he met Fredrick Leliman, a police officer and his co-accused in the ongoing murder case in April 2016 through his friend, Mlolongo OCS Stephen Lelei.
“During my visit to the OCS, I came to know officer Leliman. In 2016, while at Mlolongo Police Post Canteen, Leliman approached me and told me he needed some assistance from me,” stated Ngugi.
He went on to disclose that Leliman, later on, sought his help in getting hold of Josephat Mwenda, whom he wanted dead because of reporting him to the Independent Police Oversight Authority (Ipoa) over a shooting incident.
Leliman allegedly told Ngugi that the case against him was being heard on June 23, 2016, and that he had no other option but to eliminate the complainant.
