Six officers linked to the deaths of Kianjokoma brothers, Embu County, now want the court to order an inquest before they are charged.
Corporal of Police Benson Mputhia, Corporal Consolata Kariuki, Police Constable Martin WAnyama, PC Lilian Cherono, PC Nicholus Sang and PC James Mwaniki also want the court to order the exhumation of the two bodies.
Through their lawyer Danstan Omari, they said the exhumation of the two brothers, Benson Njiru and Emmanuel Ndwiga, is for purposes of conducting an autopsy by independent pathologists to be appointed by them.
“When the postmortem in the cause of death of the two deceased brothers was conducted the petitioner’s chosen pathologists were not present, thus it is prejudicial having a postmortem report by the state” Omari argues.
They have also sued Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Inspector General from commencing any criminal proceedings relating to the death of the deceased until the inquest is concluded on merit.
In an affidavit, they claim that the two brothers jumped from a police Land Cruiser while escaping arrest, which lead to their death.
“On August 1 during routine police patrols and enforcement of the Covid-19 curfew orders, the officers made arrests of a total of 10 suspects, among them the brothers, whose death is being investigated,” read part of the affidavit.
Cheruyoit said they only realised the two brothers were missing when they reached Manyatta police station and one of the suspects told them he saw the two jump out of the vehicle.
They were being ferried in the station police van Land Cruiser GKB 277 T.
They also want the court to order the release of their phones to allow them to transact on M-Pesa to make payments to their families and lawyers.
The six were detained for 14 days at Capital Hill Police Station to complete investigations.
According to the prosecution, led by Lydia Nyamosi, the duration sought for investigations to be concluded is because it is a complex matter and they need time without any interference.
The case will mentioned on August 31.