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Nakuru Principal Magistrate Kipkurui Kibelion (in grey suite) and a team of lawyers on November 11, 2025, outside the Nakuru Law Courts, check a KWS vehicle used to ferry Brian Odhiambo, the missing local fisherman, during the hearing of the case.
Six Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers planned and executed the disappearance and abduction of missing Nakuru fisherman Brian Odhiambo, a court has heard.
A top detective in the case of the missing fisherman, on Monday told a Nakuru Court, that investigations revealed how the officers brutalised Mr Odhiambo, after they got hold of him outside the Lake Nakuru National Park in broad daylight and dragged him inside the park, before planning and executing his disappearance.
A portrait of Nakuru fisherman Brian Odhiambo who disappeared on January 18, 2025 after being arrested by KWS officers at Lake Nakuru National Park.
Mr Odhiambo went missing on January 18, 2025, at the Manyani area after he was arrested by the KWS officers, who pursued him for allegedly trespassing into the Lake Nakuru National Park. The rangers have maintained, that the fisherman escaped their custody, while at the park and has never been found.
Appearing before Senior Principal Magistrate Kipkurui Kibellion, Chief Inspector Julius Muhui, however, sought to deconstruct the narrative by the rangers and insisted that the disappearance of the fisherman was planned and coordinated by the six officers.
Nakuru court users on November 11, 2025, led by Principal Magistrate Kipkurui Kibelion, visit the Manyani scene where local fisherman Brian Odhiambo is suspected to have been arrested by KWS rangers.
He argued that there was no sufficient evidence to support the ranger’s theory of Mr Odhiambo escaping.
The officers including Senior Sergeant Francis Wachira Alexander Lorogoi, Isaac Ochieng, Michael Wabukala, Evans Kimaiyo, and Abdulrahaman Sudi, have been charged with his abduction.
Mr Muhui, who is the chief investigating officer in the case, argued that Sgt Wachira who was in-charge of the operation, conspired with the rest of the officers to execute the plan to abduct the fisherman.
“From our investigations we established that Francis Wachira took part in assisting the disappearance and abduction of Brian Odhiambo with other officers who collaborated and executed the abduction,” said Mr Muhui.
In his testimony, Mr Muhui revealed that he took over the case following the report of the missing person that was made to the police station.
Beat him up, dragged him back to the park
He explained that the initial report from the complainants indicated that Mr Odhiambo had been caught by the rangers while escaping the park. They beat him up, dragged him back to the park before bundling him into the awaiting Toyota Land Cruiser.
Mr Muhui told the court that he went to the Bondeni Police Station where the report had been made and discovered that the Officer Commanding the Station had already circulated the report of a missing person to the various police stations.
Alvy Okello, the wife of Brian Odhiambo, testifies at the scene where the missing fisherman was arrested on November 10, 2025 during a court users' visit.
He investigated the Occurrence Book at the police station and learnt that nine people had been arrested by KWS officers and booked at the station but Mr Odhiambo was not one of the suspects.
His team later requested from the KWS the duty roster of the officers who were on duty on the said date.
The six suspects were on duty and were part of the team that was carrying out the operation to arrest illegal fishermen at Lake Nakuru.
He recorded statements from the officers, which indicated that upon arresting Mr Odhiambo at Manyani, they drove towards an area called Vietnam where they met another Land Cruiser with other officers.
Sgt Wachira instructed the officers to transfer Mr Odhiambo into the other vehicle being driven by Mr Abdulrahman Sudi, who was left to guard him as the other vehicle proceeded to ferry other suspects.
Mr Sudi in his statement, however, said he was driving towards the Sewage area carrying Mr Odhiambo at the back of the vehicle. He heard the fisherman calling for assistance to relieve himself.
“Sudi claimed that the suspect pushed him and escaped into the park immediately he untied him. He insisted that he tried to pursue him in vain, yet he had not taken his details,” said Mr Muhui.
Carlos Otieno, the brother to Brian Odhiambo, a local fisherman who mysteriously disappeared in Lake Nakuru testifies at the scene where his brother was arrested on November 10, 2025.
However, Mr Muhui, while faulting the narrative, said the officers could not prove that Mr Odhiambo had escaped since they never recorded such information in their Occurrence Book.
According to Mr Muhui, the procedure demands that once a suspect escapes from their custody, they are supposed to make an entry on the nature of the incident in the OB.
According to him, the officers only made a remark on the OB which was more of an afterthought.
“If you check the OB, such cases are made as an incidence and not as a remark. They ought to have made an entry on the nature of occurrence. No report of an escapee in the OB kept by the KWS. With that evidence we decided to charge the six suspects,” said Mr Muhui.
The court further made a site visit to the scene where the fisherman is said to have been abducted before the detective testified.
The case will continue tomorrow when the witness will be cross examined by the defense lawyers.
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