New evidence presented in court has shown that the late Albert Ojwang was alive and responsive when he was brought to Central Police Station but was later removed from the facility while unresponsive.
The evidence emerged during the ongoing murder trial, where the prosecution continued presenting its case by calling the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) Head of Forensics, Joshua Mutua, to testify on CCTV footage and the alleged tampering of surveillance systems at the police station.
In a statement on Tuesday, July 21, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said the prosecution first recalled an officer attached to the records office at Central Police Station, who continued testifying about events surrounding the deletion of CCTV footage for June 6 and 7.
"Prosecution first recalled Prosecution Witness Three (PW3), an officer attached to the records office at Central Police Station, who continued her testimony on events surrounding the deletion of CCTV footage for 6th and 7th June 2025.
"The witness concluded her account on the circumstances under which the surveillance recordings were deleted on 8th June 2025," the statement read.
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According to the ODPP, the prosecution thereafter called Mutua, a video investigations specialist, who guided the court through a forensic reconstruction of events at Central Police Station using CCTV footage, photographs and his examination of the station's surveillance infrastructure.
The witness provided the court with a chronological account of events captured by the surveillance system on June 7, 2025, beginning shortly before Ojwang was brought to the station, his arrival and movements within the facility, and ending with the time he was removed from the police station.
Mutua told the court that his investigations began two days later, when he visited Central Police Station alongside fellow investigator Naphtali Nduhi to examine the CCTV system.
"Mutua told the court that his investigations commenced on 9th June 2025 when he, accompanied by fellow investigator Mr. Naphtali Nduhi, visited Central Police Station to examine the CCTV system," the statement added.
Before visiting the station, Mutua had contacted a technician identified as Dan, whose details had been provided by a records officer.
Dan was unavailable but referred him to Aaron, another technician who had been involved in installing the station's CCTV system in 2024.
"He testified that before visiting the station, he had contacted a technician identified as Dan, whose details had been provided by a records officer. Although Dan was unavailable, he referred Mr. Mutua to another technician, Aaron, who had participated in the installation of the station's CCTV system in 2024," the statement further read.
According to the witness, he met Aaron outside the office of the Officer Commanding Station before entering the office to examine the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and other surveillance equipment.
He photographed the CCTV installation and observed that the DVR had been disconnected from the power supply.
After Aaron reconnected the system, Mutua conducted a forensic examination of the DVR logs.
The analysis, he told the court, showed that the recording device had been deliberately formatted at 7:30:14 a.m. on June 8, 2025, while it was located inside the OCS's office.
Despite the formatting of the device, investigators managed to recover crucial CCTV footage from Central Police Station and Mbagathi using forensic recovery techniques.
"Despite the formatting, the witness informed the court that forensic recovery techniques enabled investigators to retrieve critical CCTV footage from both Central Police Station and Mbagathi, preserving evidence relevant to the movements and interactions involving police officers and the deceased," the statement noted.
Mutua further testified that he prepared and signed a forensic exhibit report on June 9, 2025, documenting the seizure of the DVR and the condition in which it was found.
The recovered footage, according to his testimony, showed that Ojwang appeared alive and responsive when he was brought to Central Police Station and remained so during the period he was in custody.
Subsequent footage, however, showed him being removed from the station while unresponsive.
The hearing continues.
This comes a day after the CCTV footage was played in court.
During court proceedings, one of the lawyers presented the clip, which was recovered by detectives from IPOA, as he questioned several witnesses.
According to the clip, a man in blue attire, who was positively identified as one of the officers deployed to the Central Police Station, was seen interacting with two unidentified individuals at the main entrance of the holding cells about 10.25 p.m on June 7, 2025.
The two unidentified individuals, who were wearing caps, then went into the searching area before being allowed into the area where the cells were.
They then headed directly to the cell at the end of the block, where the late Albert Ojwang was held. When they left the cell, the time stamp on the CCTV footage was 10.41 p.m.
The individuals had a brief chat with the officer at the main entrance for approximately three minutes before going back to the ill-fated cell.
The officer is seen locking the door separating the search area and the cells. At about 11.45 pm, two other men, apart from the men unidentified earlier, are seen running from the cell at the end of the block.
They ran towards the searching area where the men who were wearing caps were waiting. Shortly afterwards, five men were seen running back to the ill-fated cell.
Aloni Okwako, a CCTV technician called to testify in court, confirmed that the CCTV footage was manually erased.
Okwako confirmed that he met two police officers, who told him that they wanted some work done on the Digital Video Recorder machine in the OCS's office.
