Police and Ferry officials have been summoned over missing CCTV footage from a 2019 tragedy that left a mother and her daughter dead at the Likoni Ferry crossover in Mombasa.
According to a statement released by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) on Thursday, July 17, the Mombasa Chief Magistrate’s Court issued the summons following concerns over missing evidence.
The incomplete video evidence is related to an incident in which a 35-year-old mother and her daughter drowned after their vehicle plunged into the Indian Ocean on December 20, 2019.
Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku summoned Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) Managing Director Bakari Ngowa, the boss of the Likoni Sub-County Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and Corporal Moses Mahiuha to shed light on the handling and whereabouts of the crucial CCTV footage.
In the ongoing case, Principal Prosecution Counsel Alex Ndiema requested that the court compel the officials to explain the chain of custody of the footage.
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Reportedly, the said piece of evidence was handed over by the original investigating officer to the KFS management instead of being formally submitted as evidence.
During Thursday’s hearing, the current investigating officer, Bob Otieno, presented a short video clip showing the family vehicle slipping into the Likoni Channel.
However, the footage was deemed incomplete and failed to capture the whole sequence of events leading to the fatal plunge.
The court was informed that the footage, which initially showed the moment the vehicle slid off the ferry ramp, had key gaps and did not clearly establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.
In light of these developments, Ithuku ordered Mr. Ngowa, the Likoni DCI chief, and Corporal Mahiuha to appear before the court on July 24, 2025, to clarify the chain of custody and circumstances under which the footage was transferred and subsequently altered or lost.
The two victims, yet to receive justice since 2019, reportedly drowned at the Likoni ferry after their vehicle lost brakes and reversed just before the ferry docked.
Ferry officials had attempted to throw out rescue savers near the car, but the two were trapped inside the vehicle and could not access them.
