Editor's Review

A police officer who was a protected witness in the Albert Ojwang' murder case has died before he could testify.

A police officer who was a protected witness in the Albert Ojwang' murder case has died before he could testify.

Stephen Maina Nderitu, who was attached to the office of the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) at Central Police Station, died on Monday, September 7. 

Nderitu reportedly collapsed shortly after leaving his workplace and died. 

A postmortem examination cited acute ulcers, cardiac arrest and depression among the causes of his death.

His death comes at a critical stage in the murder case, where he was expected to provide evidence concerning events at Central Police Station following Ojwang’s death. 

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Investigators had identified Nderitu as a key witness in efforts to establish a possible link between former OCS Samson Talam and the alleged tampering with the CCTV hard drive at the station.

Nderitu was expected to testify on information that could have helped investigators piece together what happened to the CCTV evidence and establish the chain of accountability within the station.

File image of Central Police Station

Investigators said Nderitu had recorded a statement on Monday, May 18, in which he outlined sensitive details relating to the case.

The statement was expected to provide crucial information that could strengthen the prosecution’s case by connecting accounts surrounding Ojwang’s final hours and events at the police station.

His sudden death has now raised questions about how the prosecution will proceed with evidence that was expected to be presented through his testimony.

This comes months after new evidence presented in court showed that 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.

"The 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.