A police officer has been ordered to argue his innocence in court, thwarting his attempts to bar IPOA and the ODPP from taking legal action against him.
Mr. Maurice Kituyi Machani, a police officer at Langas Police Station had moved to the High Court in Eldoret, seeking a decision to charge him for shooting Mr. Augustino Ngugi Mbugua, be quashed.
In his petition, he also wanted the court to restrain the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), from taking any legal action against him, particularly “for the events that transpired on 1st January 2019 while the petitioner was on duty.”
Mr. Mbugua was shot and arrested, about 100 meters away from his home in Eldoret.
High Court Judge Hon. Erick Ogolla threw out the petition saying: “The Court has already found and held that the instant petition does not disclose any constitutional issues. It would, therefore, follow that the Petitioner has not established a violation of his constitutional rights and freedoms.”
The officer had told the court that he did not wish to take a plea because he stood to suffer prejudice and his Constitutional Rights would be violated.
But Justice Ogolla said in his judgment: “A cursory look at the petition shows that although the petitioner merely cited various Articles of the Constitution in his heading, the petition itself does not disclose any of the said Articles and how the Respondents infringed and or breached any of the Petitioner’s constitutional rights.”
The officer had hoped the trial at the lower court would not be admitted for trial.
