DCI, Mutyambai on the spot as five men ‘kidnapped by police’

Police have continued to dilly-dally in a court petition where families of five abducted men have demanded that law enforcers produce their kin dead or alive.

On Monday, High Court judge Justice Florence Muchemi heard that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Inspector-General (IG) of Police Hillary Mutyambai are yet to file their response to a habeas corpus application seeking to produce the missing men before court.

The application, which was presented before the court in July, requires the missing men allegedly under arrest to be brought before the judge.

Mr Isaac Mwangi, Mr Bernard Wanjohi, Mr Samuel Ngacha, Mr Wilson Wairimu and Mr Elijah Karimi have been missing since June and their families say they were kidnapped in broad daylight in separate incidents in a manner of State operations.

When the suit was last in court on September 30, the DCI and the IG, who were appearing before the court for the first time, requested for a period of 21 days to file their response to the application.

 Through their lawyer, the two asked to be allowed to give their response as to whether they are holding the missing men in custody.

But yesterday, the court heard that the two respondents, who were absent at the proceedings, are yet to reply to the application.

During the session, Justice Muchemi ordered that since the suit is under a certificate of urgency, it be heard during the court’s vacation.

So far, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) , which is listed as the first respondent, has denied involvement in the abductions.

A replying affidavit written by KWS Corporation Secretary Doreen Mutunga shows that KWS officers did not conduct operations in Nyeri and Nyandarua counties in the period between June 27 and June 30, when and where the men are said to have been abducted. Mr Mwangi was abducted on June 27 at Kianjogu area in Ndaragwa in the presence of his wife Phoebe Muthoni and daughter as they were travelling to Nyahururu.

Mr Ngacha and Mr Wanjohi, two brothers who are also Mr Mwangi’s cousins, were abducted at Kanyagia along the Nyeri- Nyahururu highway on June 30.

The two had accompanied Ms Muthoni and three other friends who were returning from Ndaragwa to follow up the abduction of Mr Mwangi.

Mr Karimi is believed to have been arrested in Naromoru on June 28 at the town’s stage while Mr Wairimu was handcuffed outside Zion bar in Narumoru on June 27.

The case continues on December 6.