Written By Joyce Nzomo
Safaricom PLC on Monday presented mobile phone data before the Milimani Law Courts in the ongoing inquest into the killing of activist Rex Kanyike Masai.
The evidence was produced by Zachary Kirogoi Mburu, a senior manager in charge of law enforcement liaison at Safaricom.
Mburu told Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo that the company had received two court orders compelling it to provide call data records and location details for three numbers.
The numbers were registered under police officer Isaiah Murangiri Ndumba, Benson Kamau, and Michael Oginga Okello.
According to the data, Murangiri had two phone numbers, both of which showed call activity on June 18, 2024, but none on June 19.
On June 20, however, the logs placed his mobile signal within Nairobi’s Central Business District, picked by masts covering Kencom, St. Ellis, and other nearby sites.
The records further showed that Kamau’s number had activity during the period under investigation, while Okello’s number did not record any call data at all.
Mburu explained that the logs simply reflected what Safaricom systems extracted in line with the court’s orders.
When questioned about the accuracy of the location data, Mburu explained that Safaricom sites capture signals within a radius of about 200 meters in the CBD because of its high population density and concentration of network masts.
He added that even if a subscriber is stationary, their number can still be picked up by different nearby sites depending on coverage.
Lawyer David Mwangi, representing the Law Society of Kenya, asked whether a line could appear active even if the registered user had stopped using it, but Mburu said he only produced what the systems showed.
More to follow…
