The High Court in Mombasa handed a former senior police officer a life imprisonment for the murder of a civilian.
Yunus Athman was the officer commanding the Likoni Police Station at the time of Mbaraka Maitha Omar.
The 20-year-old was shot dead at his home in Likoni's Mwenza Village in 2018.
Athman and his colleagues had gone to arrest the deceased over the alleged theft of livestock.
The sentence was handed down on Friday, February 13, by Lady Justice Wendy Kagendo Micheni. Over 20 witnesses were lined up to testify against the suspects.
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The prosecution, led by Ngiri Wangui, indicated to the court how the evidence placed Athman at the scene of the crime.
"The trial also exposed concerns over police conduct and alleged attempts to obscure the circumstances of the shooting, with multiple witnesses confirming that the deceased was unarmed and did not pose a danger," the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said.
According to the prosecution, the convict fired several shots despite the deceased not having resisted arrest.
In delivering the sentence, the judge explained that the court had weighed the mitigation factors, the pre‑sentence report, and the victim impact statement before deciding on a life term without release.
The court noted that as a police officer, the offender was legally bound to safeguard life, but instead resorted to unlawful force against an unarmed civilian.
The judge stressed that misuse of state authority undermines justice and therefore warrants a punishment that deters similar conduct.
The victim’s relatives told the court they continue to endure emotional distress from the killing, calling it a malicious act and a betrayal of public confidence.
Finally, the judge instructed Athman to file any appeal against both the conviction and sentence within 14 days.
In other news, Samson Talaam, the former officer commanding the Nairobi Police Central Police Station, is among the suspects in the murder of blogger Robert Ojwang.
He is accused alongside two other officers, constables James Mukhwana and Peter Kimani, and three other civilians.
In his affidavit to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), Mukhwana revealed that Ojwang was beaten by three men at the instruction of Talaam.
He claimed that Talaam was acting on the initial orders from a senior in the police service, who had accused Ojwang of defamation.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives traced Ojwang to his parents' home in Homa Bay, and drove with him to Nairobi, where he was booked at the Central Police Station.
He was killed the same evening.
