A police officer in Nairobi is set to be prosecuted over the killing of two Egerton University students.
This comes after a directive by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) following the completion of investigations into the death of the students.
The investigations concerning the wrongful killing of Mr Dennis Ongwae Magomere and Mr Felix Ngaywa Nyagena were conducted by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA). Findings by IPOA proved that the information compiled by the police officers was falsified.
"Investigators found that the two students had traveled from Egerton University, Njoro Campus to Nairobi on the day they were killed, to follow up on their Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) loans at Anniversary Towers. They were leaving the Nairobi CBD to a relative’s house in Mathare North when they encountered the constable. He was off duty and not in uniform but was armed with a police pistol, which he used to kill the two students." read a statement by IPOA.
Information collected was presented to the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko who upheld findings by IPOA. Tobiko directed that Constable Patrick Thuranira, who was attached to the Nairobi Central Police Station, be charged with two counts of murder.
The released statement was signed by the independent body's public relations officer Dennis Oketch who added that claims by the police officers that the students were involved in mugging were not verifiable.
Police Officers involved with this incident termed the two victims as unidentifiable, yet they had their National and university Identification cards. Families of the victims located the bodies after two weeks since the two disappeared.
The murder occurred in November 2014 at around 9:30 p.m. around the Globe Cinema roundabout.
