On the night of October 19, 2013, at Baba Dogo Estate in Nairobi, Martin Manyara had a domestic brawl with his wife, after which he attempted to strangle their child.
He was booked at Ruaraka police station where he brutally met his death.It was alleged that officer Nahashon former OCS at Ruaraka Police Station tortured him to his sad fate.
KNH doctors said Manyara had deep wounds on the head, cuts on the lower lip, eight fractured ribs, brain hemorrhage and excessive bleeding from the neck that caused his death.To cover up his action, the OCS implicated one Kelvin Odhiambo.
Odhiambo ended up being charged with killing Mr Martin Koome Manyara, a cellmate. His accuser was the State, courtesy of an “investigation” conducted by police.
For six months, Mr Kevin Odhiambo faced his accusers in court, with the probability of spending the rest of his life in jail were he to be found guilty of murder.
But away from the gallery, wananchi were conducting a parallel investigation, albeit through the civilian policing oversight body — Independent Policing Oversight Authority — which was formed in 2012 at the height of police excesses, with a cardinal mandate of ensuring that police are held accountable for their actions.
As the case against Mr Odhiambo proceeded, with cellmates and police officers lined up as witnesses, IPOA presented a counter file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
IPOA explained that the man in the dock was the wrong one, and recommended that the officer in charge of Ruaraka Police Station, Mr Nahashon Mutua, be charged with the murder.
Although the officer stated that there was a fight between Manyara and another inmate, leading to the injuries, the judge ruled that all the witnesses confirmed to the contrary. “Why wasn’t the fight heard by police officers who were on duty or recorded in the Occurrence Book? It goes to show that he was in a cover-up mission,” ruled Mutuku.
The Chief Inspector of Police was on Thursday found guilty of killing Mr Manyara. Do you think Odhiambo can ever be compensated for the torture he was put in by the implication?