The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) have opposed a request by six police officers to have the bodies of two brothers from Kianjokoma, Embu County, exhumed.
The six officers, Corporals Consolota Njeri and Benson Mbuthia, Constables Lilian Cherono, Martin Wanyama, Nicholas Sang, and James Mwaniki, are facing murder charges over the deaths of the two brothers.
The police officers had requested a new autopsy, arguing that the blunt force that led to the deaths of the brothers as indicated in a previous autopsy report, could have resulted from their fall from a moving vehicle.
In their responses, the DPP and IPOA noted that the family had already dealt with enough anguish after losing their two children, Benson Njiru, 22, and Emmanuel Mutura, 19.
In an affidavit, a lead investigative officer told the court that the two brothers had been assaulted during their arrest.
"From the witness statements, the deceased persons were assaulted by the petitioners during their arrest," reads the court documents.
Ibrahim Abukur Shunu, a senior investigation officer with IPOA, stated that the two brothers were at the Kianjokoma Trading Centre accompanied by their friends on August 1, 2021, at around 10:30pm.
One of the friends spotted a police vehicle parked around the corner before alerting the others and they started running towards their home directions.
The officer detailed that one of the brothers lagged behind and his sibling kept looking back. At one point, they heard a loud bang, prompting the second deceased to turn and start walking towards where his brother had been left.
"It is then that the two brothers and their two friends were arrested, assaulted and bundled into a police vehicle," narrated the officer.
On Tuesday, August 31, ten lawyers representing the six police officers withdrew from the case, a move that disrupted the proceedings of the matter.
High Court Judge, Daniel Ogembo, ruled that it was prudent to allow the six officers time to get state advocates to represent them.
Justice Ogembo also dismissed an application by the six to have the bodies exhumed for a fresh round of autopsy.
On Wednesday, High Court ruled that the officers would take plea on Thursday, September 2.
