Police ordered to produce Garsen herder who went missing four months ago
What you need to know:
- The court heard that the law enforcers have refused to arraign the herder in court.
- LSK filed the case under certificate of urgency, seeking the production of the herder.
The High Court has ordered the security agencies to produce a 65-years-old herder who went missing after being arrested and detained at a police station over four months ago.
Justice Mugure Thande directed the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) Garsen Police Station to produce in court Mr Abdullahi Ahmed Muhumed on March 11, 2025.
Mr Muhumed went missing from Garsen Police Station on October 5, 2024 where he was detained for unknown reasons.
“That hitherto the whereabouts of Muhumed remains unknown and unaccounted for and there is reasonable fear that he was abducted by officers attached to the national security agencies who have refused the family of the victim to visit him in custody,” Justice Thande heard.
The court also heard that the law enforcers have refused to arraign the herder in court. The judge further ordered the police boss at Garsen Police Station in Tana River County to appear in person and explain the disappearance of Mr Muhumed from the station.
Law Society of Kenya (LSK) through lawyer Bernard Obae filed the case under certificate of urgency, seeking the production of the herder.
Urging the judge to order for the production of Muhumed, Mr Obae said the family of the herder is undergoing a hard time and mental anguish.
“The applicant herein was allegedly kidnapped or abducted in broad-day light on October 5, 2024, from Garsen Police Station, Tana River County in the presence of the Deputy OCS among other police officers by individuals in civilian clothes,” Obae told the judge in a virtual hearing on February 26, 2025.
The lawyer further disclosed, “the abductees sped off from the police in a double cabin pick-up registration number KCU 576U.”
He submitted before the judge that after the ordeal, nobody has accounted for the whereabouts of Muhumed.
The judge was further informed the brother of the victim Mr Dayo Ahmed Mohamed and a son of the abducted herder-Yunus Abdullahi reported the incident at Garsen Police Station and obtained an OB No/2/05/10/2024.
In a supporting affidavit to the court case, a nephew to the victim Said Ibrahim has disclosed that Muhumed was walking home from Garsen Township in the company Mohamed Sheikh and Ibrahim Osman when he was summoned by a male uniformed police officer who was manning the entrance to Garsen Police Station.
Ibrahim says his Uncle was led to the reception of the police station where he sat.
“After a few minutes a Toyota Hilux Double Cabin KCU 576U silver in color approached the entrance of the police station. The said police officer who summoned Muhumed opened the gate and pointed to the direction of the reception,” Ibrahim states in the 15-paragraph affidavit filed at the High Court.
The nephew disclosed that three grim-faced men in civilian clothes asked at the reception “who is Abdullahi Ahmed Muhumed?"
Muhumed lifted up his right hand for recognition, Ibrahim stated.
Justice Thande heard the gun-toting men pounced on Mr Muhumed, roughed him and frog-matched him to the waiting double-cabin.
Mr Ibrahim said efforts to reach Muhumed through his mobile have become futile.
The judge heard efforts to get information from the OCS Garsen have been unfruitful, however “the family was granted audience by the Deputy OCS who asked them to be calm as Muhumed would be joining them soon.”
The nephew says days have turned into months and Muhumed is nowhere to be found.
Mr Obae submitted that the abduction of Muhumed has caused pain, anguish and despair to his family.
The LSK and Obae stated in the application that the incident has caused a huge public outcry in Tana River County.
Mr Obae says the absurd actions by the political class and a section of the security agencies is causing untold suffering to the nation as nobody is safe since top security personel say they “do not know who is abducting innocent citizens.”
The lawyer said the constitutional rights of Muhumed to freedom of movement have been curtailed.
LSK also urged the court to compel Safaricom to assist in giving information about the location of Muhumed through its tracking systems. The case will be heard on March 11, 2025.
rmunguti@ke.nationmedia.com