Drama as man interrupts court session accusing police of ‘lying’ about missing IT expert Kinyagia
He lamented that the police, who are supposed to give protection to Kenyans, have turned against them as he called for an end to extrajudicial killings and abductions
There was high drama at the Milimani Court after a man disrupted proceedings, accusing the police to stop lying in the ongoing case regarding the missing 31-year-old Ndiangui Kinyagia.
The drama captured on cameras during the proceeding ensued after the lawyer representing Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Director of Criminal Investigations Mohammed Amin informed the judge that the police did not have Kinyagia in their custody.
Displeased with the response from the police, the man rose and shouted ‘stop lying’.
According to the unidentified man, the police were lying to the court and claimed that the police knew the whereabouts of the Kinyagia.
“We will not come here to listen to your stories. You have abducted someone, and the family is crying, and you are here telling us stories. Enough is enough,” he objected.
“You must stop the abductions. You must stop the extrajudicial killings. We will not come here to listen to your stories,” he said.
“You have abducted someone, and their family is hurting, yet you are here telling us stories. It is not right to abduct someone and fail to bring them to court.”
He lamented that the police, who are supposed to give protection to Kenyans, have turned against them as he called for an end to extrajudicial killings and abductions.
“What are we supposed to do if the people who are supposed to protect us have turned out to be the greatest threat to our security?” he added.
Police officers and other lawyers were forced to intervene and calm the man down to allow for the proceedings to continue.
During the proceedings, Kanja and Amin, who had been ordered to appear in court to produce Kinyagia, who is reported missing, were not in attendance with lawyers Martha Karua and Willis Otieno raising questions over their absence.
Karua noted that Amin addressed a media briefing at 4 pm on Monday indicating he was aware about the summons after lawyers representing the family secured habeas corpus orders.
“There has been no compliance. They are not taking the orders of this court seriously. It is their business to find him — that’s why we pay them.”
Otieno said the failure by Kanja and Amin to produce Kinyagia or to appear in person before court constitutes a brazen, high-handed, and contemptuous subversion of the Constitution and a direct assault on the independence and dignity of the Judiciary.
“This is not mere non-compliance but also a calculated defiance of lawful authority, a reckless desecration of court orders, and an egregious dereliction of public duty by individuals constitutionally bound to uphold the law. Their conduct is not just unconstitutional; it is institutionally delinquent, morally bankrupt, and legally intolerable.”
“In arrogating unto themselves the power to ignore court directives with impunity, they have positioned themselves as a law unto themselves ; a stance that, if left unchecked, would reduce judicial authority to a hollow ritual and the Constitution to a decorative pamphlet. This Court must now assert its coercive, punitive, and supervisory jurisdiction to rein in this lawlessness and make it resoundingly clear that state power exercised in contempt of court is power exercised outside the law and will be met with the full wrath of judicial sanction,” he added.
Justice Chacha Mwita also told off the police, saying they must produce Ndiangui as directed.
“I am not interested in your drama. Produce Ndiang’ui Kinyagia whether dead or alive,” he said.
“Since the DCI were the last people to see the second petitioner when they visited his place, I direct DCI director to appear personally on July 3 before this court to answer on the matter,” Justice Mwita added.
During his media briefing, Amin said the missing blogger and IT expert is not in the custody of the National Police Service.
“Ndiangui is not in the custody of officers from the National Police Service and that is what I am going to say rightly before the court tomorrow,” he said.
Amin claimed that the blogger has been a person of interest to the DCI and that he should surrender wherever he is to help in the ongoing investigations.
“He was a person of interest to us for publishing inflammatory material on his social media. Wherever he is, he should surrender to assist in our investigations,” Amin stated.
Amin confirmed that indeed Kinyagia was arrested for publishing a protest timetable on his social media.
He added that the DCI officers ransacked his house before picking several of his electronics, which they recorded in an inventory with the caretaker of the apartments where he lived in Kinoo.
“I am sure you all saw the timetable and so on. Our investigations revealed that he was the owner of the account that posted the information, and we profiled him and identified his residence. Officers searched his residence in Kinoo, and he was not in his apartment,” he explained.
“We searched and picked a few of his gadgets that we believe would be important in our investigations. We did an inventory countersigned by the caretaker of the apartment,” he added.
